Psalm 103…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment
A Psalm of David.

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The LORD executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father pities his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.[a]
17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

19 The LORD has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
22 Bless the LORD, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

The day after…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

the snow falls is often a cold day but bright with the sun. The clouds that mark the snow bearing front have passed and the northwest wind, the driver of blizzards in these parts, brings air from Canada, cold and clear.

Its the pleasant scene that people in places without snow picture when they think of winter and Christmas. Clean whiteness everywhere, dark tress highlighted with frost, and warm houses with chimney smoke dotting the streets of a small village. Light comes from windows as the sun settles in the evening and children flow down the hills in sleds.

It’s not like that, of course. Those days, even if they ever existed, are long past. The snow is gone soon after it falls, plowed away by a phalanx of orange trucks. The wheels of commerce are seldom slowed even by the largest storm and the morning after they will quickly spin back to life. A moment looking out the window and seeing simply the snow, and feeling its quiet, is always short lived.

Yet its a good moment, one of those rare times when business stands still and its normal courses are interrupted for something larger, the courses of nature and the snow that has fallen on this land, despite the tall buildings, endless miles of wires, and every built in convenience, since the Mississippi River flowed not far from this place, unfettered and on its journey to the sea.

Why didn't I think of this…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

Here’s a solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners at the airports: All we need to do is develop a booth that you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have hidden on or in your body.  The explosion would be contained within the sealed booth. This would be a win-win for everyone.  There would be none of this concern about racial profiling and the device would eliminate long and expensive trials. This is so simple that it’s brilliant. I can see it now:  you’re in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion.  Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, “Attention, standby passengers! We now have a seat available on flight number…”

Of course, there might be some delays for clean up   : )

Hat tip to Jane

We're waiting…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

for the snow to come some time in the night. There are few surprises anymore with such things. Radars are scanning the skies. Meteorologists are on every channel waiting to provide the charts and diagrams. The days of rain catching people on the street are largely over, and you can watch the snow move across the TV screen and time your day precisely. Its a modern world, carefully safe, and with hardly the smell of risk.

If there are enough groceries at home all you need to do is wait. Soon enough whatever is to drop from the sky will and you can watch it out your window. Tonight it will be snow, a few inches perhaps, not enough to cause trouble unless there’s ice below, but enough to make the ride to work tomorrow slow. We already know this and most of us will be ready, resigned, or some combination of the two.

Still in the end no one is bigger than the weather. If it comes up suddenly or you know things days ahead it always is what it is and all your money and machines can dent it a bit but never overcome it. The weather reminds us that even if we think we’re gods we’re still human and things larger than us are in control more often than we imagine. We can build great machines, wage global war, and count our money on the other side of the globe but we cannot make a single snow flake return to the sky.

That’s probably something we should ponder with greater frequency these days but tonight its snow and most of us will be asleep when it falls. In the morning it will all be about getting to the business of life and the larger picture will be lost. A pity really.

The sky is the color…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

of dirty cotton. The snow is hard and even the grass that found its way through the crust looks forlorn. On television the man talks about wind chill, again. It’s late November. It’s morning in St. Paul, and everything looks frozen in place.

Stuck is what you learn about as you grow older. Kids, and the ones who never moved away from childhood, think everything can move with the sheer power of will. Mostly, though, we learn over time that sometimes things are just stuck in place. The weather, the times, the economy, our obligations, our fears, and every time of preparation, are all a kind of glue that can hold even the most ramble prone in place for a while.

Impatience is easy to come by in such times. In a world where we’ve been trained to get food in seconds its hard for us to stay put, to learn the lessons that come from being captured by a moment in life. Ice falls from the sky and you have to stay home. Times are hard and you need to keep your job for a while. Things are happening far above your pay grade and the world isn’t the way you want it to be and you must wait.

Yet wisdom tells us there is a voice in all of this, a wisdom to be gained not simply in the moments of change and movement but also on November days when the snow is hard, the air cold, and there’s no place to go. Those who pursue this grow deep and the shallow world has little power over their hearts.

On God's patience…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

Those who have been found worthy of using things as they ought to be used should in all humility give heartfelt thanks to God, for by His grace they have been freed from what is contrary to nature and from the transgression of the commandments. We, however, who are still subject to the passions and who still misuse things, and who therefore act in a manner that is contrary to nature, should tremble and in all gratitude should give heartfelt thanks to our Benefactor, astonished at His unutterable forbearance, in that though we have disobeyed His commandments, misused His creation and rejected His gifts, He endures our ingratitude and does not cease to confer His blessings on us, awaiting until our last breath for our conversion and repentance. REF:St. Peter of Damaskos, “God’s Universal And Particular Gifts”, from G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Bishop Kallistos Ware, “The Philokalia: Vol. III,” (London: Faber and Faber, 1984), pp. 172 – 173.

An odd thought…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

I think Adolf Hitler ruined the remarkable Charlie Chaplin moustache. If you were a fan of the late great actor and wanted to grow one just like his as a tribute there would probably be no end of the trouble you’d have. Certainly you’d spend many hours trying to explain yourself. The interesting thing is that WW1 pictures of Hitler show him with a handlebar moustache. Somewhere along the way he changed it and Charlie Chaplin wistful was turned into Hitler sinister. Sad.

Jesus is everywhere…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

in Branson, on signs, in gift shop trinkets, t shirts, shows, and billboards. There seems to be a little bit of him everywhere you look and on the main drag churches share the billing with music groups, animal shows, and the hollywood wax museum. In some ways he’s the unseen star of this little town tucked in the heart of the Bible belt.

Coming from the rest of the world its kind of odd, Jesus everywhere and people talking about him like they mean it and not just after hitting their thumb with a hammer. In Branson Jesus is just part of the deal, along with stores that sell knives, ozark buffets, and rich guys who pretend to be hillbillies for two shows a day.

It could be, of course, that I just come from up north where that kind of thing doesn’t happen as much. We don’t get a whole lot of Jesus billboards in Minnesota or restaurants with scriptures on the menu. Perhaps I’m just as much a fish out of water and someone driving up here from Arkansas might be. For sure it does take a certain amount of adjustment to take it all in.

Certainly if I don’t always understand or appreciate the whole tourist trap Jesus on bumper stickers and key chains sort of thing I appreciate the desire behind at least some of it. For some its probably just about what sells but for others it seems that at least some people think enough of Jesus to talk about him outside of church. There are true believers in these hills, regular folks who are trying to find their way through life and are looking to Jesus to show them how. I can respect that even if i don’t get all the trappings.

And if the truth be known I hope they would be able to respect me looking out over Table Rock lake, prayer rope in hand, and pondering the silence. I have my trappings too and I could just imagine what a person from the First Free Will Missionary Baptist Church in some small town would think when they walked through the doors at St. George.

Still, an onion dome or two down there might look nice…

Thoughts on food…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

Having guarded ourselves against distractions and worries, let us turn our attention to our body on which mental vigilance is completely dependent. Human bodies differ widely from one another in strength and health. Some by their strength are like copper and iron; others are frail like grass. For this reason everyone should rule his body with great prudence, after exploring his physical powers. For a strong and healthy body, special fasts and vigils are suitable; they make it lighter, and give the mind a special wakefulness. A weak body should be strengthened by food and sleep according to one’s physical needs, but on no account to satiety. Satiety is extremely harmful even for a weak body; it weakens it, and makes it susceptible to disease. Wise temperance of the stomach is a door to all the virtues. Restrain the stomach, and you will enter Paradise. But if you please and pamper your stomach, you will hurl yourself over the precipice of bodily impurity, into the fire of wrath and fury, you will coarsen and darken your mind, and in this way you will ruin your powers of attention and self-control, your sobriety and vigilance…. (pp. 133-134) The Arena: An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism, by St. Ignaty Brianchaninov (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1991)