St. Augustine’s (whose name is pronounced either a-GUS-tin or AW-gus-teen – in my experience the academy goes with the former) Confessions are on every Great Books list that exists.  And for good reason.  Who am I to review the great saint’s work?  I’d rather offer you portions that will make you hungry for more:

I posted a few more quotes earlier this week in my post Eating with Augustine. 

Oh, do read Augustine. He is readable.  He is remarkable.  He is real.

It’s peculiar, I know, but I’m fascinated with funeral music.  I’ve been collecting selections for my own funeral for decades, beginning with my all time favorite: For All the Saints, by Vaughn Williams. After Ronald Reagan’s service  I watched We Were Soldiers simply to hear the striking, majestic music in the recessional. I was saddened, indeed, when the paper came Tuesday and I realized that we had missed President Ford’s service. 

We watched excerpts of the Washington Cathedral service Tuesday, pointing to people we recognized and remembering the political world of our high school days.  I appreciated Tom Brokaw’s eulogy, how he mused on football as a metaphor for life. My heart lurched when Susan Ford Bales read from the book of James, her voice on the edge of control.  But on the whole, we missed all the good music. 

I started sniffing around the internet and found the program for the service.  I love organ music and would like to collect more this year.  I’m printing out the prelude and hunting down these pieces on Amazon to listen to parts. Marcel Dupré is a new composer to me, but I surely like what I’ve heard thus far. 

Minnesota Public Radio has limited coverage of the funeral.  If you are in for an exquisite, absolutely fabulous musical experience do this:  Download the state funeral (takes less than a minute) and move the clip position to 42:45 so you can hear The King of Love My Shepherd Is.

The best way to listen to this is to open a new tab and follow along with the words on the program.  The organ accompanies the singers the first two verses and then drops out as they sing Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed.  The minimal, etherial harmonies on the next verse match the words In death’s dark vale perfectly. 

The organ re-enters with the last verse in a triumphal reharmonization.  Goosebumps!  Major goosebumps! 

It doesn’t get any better, musically speaking, this side of paradise. 

One of the joys of looking and listening is discovering obscure connections. 

I’m listening to a Teaching Company course on Johannes Brahms.  I can’t say enough wonderful things about Professor Robert Greenberg’s music courses.  Greenberg teaches in such a lively, entertaining manner that his subjects breath and pulse and truly come alive. 

Brahm’s Quartet for Four Voices and piano, Op. 31, No. 2, Teasing, based on the poem Teasing by Josef Wenzig has the men singing several lines followed by the women’s response.  Here are the lyrics:

 It's true, my dear, I am now courting,
 and I will establish you as my wife;
 you will be mine, my dear, truly mine,
 and even if you don't also want it.
 
 "Then I'll become a dove with a white form -
 I will fly from you, fly into the wood,
 and so I may not be yours, may not be yours:
 that hour will never come."
 
 I have a flintlock that can fire quickly -
 I'll shoot the dove down in the wood;
 You will be mine, my dear, truly mine,
 and even if you don't also want it.
 
 "Then I'll become a little fish, a golden fish -
 I'll spring into the fresh water;
 and so I may not be yours, may not be yours:
 that hour will never come."
 
 I have however a net that fishes very well;
 I will catch me this golden fish in the water.
 You will be mine, my dear, truly mine,
 and even if you don't also want it.
 
 "Then I'll become a hare, full of swiftness -
 and run in the fields, the broad fields.
 and so I may not be yours, may not be yours:
 that hour will never come."
 
 I have however a hound that's smart and fine;
 he'll catch me that hare in the fields.
 You will be mine, my dear, truly mine,
 and even if you don't also want it.

Are you a Margaret Wise Brown fan? (If not, you should be!)  Do you recognize The Runaway Bunny?

The book continues in the same vein.  It’s a delightful book to read aloud to a young child, making the little bunny’s voice high and squeaky and the mother’s voice calm and low. It captures the pull and push of budding independence and the security of a mother’s love.  I sure like the theme much better in the context of a mother’s love than as talk between a man and a woman.  

Who knew that you would find a German Lieder in classic children’s literature?  Isn’t that just plain fun?

There can be no hope for me except in your great mercy.  Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will!  You command us to control our bodily desires.  And, as we are told, when I knew that no man can be master of himself, except of God’s bounty, I was wise enough already to know whence the gift came. [quote from Apocrypha - Wisdom 8:21]  Truly it is by continence [moderation] that we are made as one and regain than unity of self which we lost by falling apart in the search for a variety of pleasures. (p.233)

For the process itself [eating] is a pleasure and there is no other means of satisfying hunger except the one which we are obliged to take.  And although the purpose of eating and drinking is to preserve health, in its train there follows an ominous kind of enjoyment, which often tries to outstrip it, so that it is really for the sake of pleasure that I do what I claim to do and mean to do for the sake of my health.  Moreover, health and enjoyment have not the same requirements, for what is sufficient for health is not enough for enjoyment, and it is often hard to tell whether the body, which must be cared for, requires further nourishment, or whether we are being deceived by the allurements of greed demanding to be gratified.  My unhappy soul welcomes this uncertainty, using it to vindicate and excuse itself. (p.235)

Every day I try my hardest to resist these temptations.  I call for your helping hand and tell you of my difficulties, because this is a problem which I have not yet resolved. … Drunkenness is far from me. By your grace may you prevent it from coming hear! But there have been times when overeating has stolen upon your servant.  By your mercy may you keep it far from me!

Give me strength, O Lord, so that I may do all things.  Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will!

How do you respond to these quotes?  Do you agree that we are hopeless without God’s mercy?  Is enjoyment of food ominous?  Is it wrong to eat for any other reason than to preserve health?  Does his struggle strike a chord with you?

I find Augustine’s grasp of the heart issues involved with overeating very helpful.  Dependence on God’s mercy, grace and strength is essential to controlling bodily desires.  The second quote reminds me of the maxim “Do you eat to live or live to eat?”  While I don’t view enjoyment of food as a menace, I know that the enjoyment factor is often the reason why overeating has stolen upon this servant. 

I would love to come to a place where I eat in moderation six days a week (it is work in my mind – you know, being moderate) and feast on the Lord’s Day, celebrating His deliverance. 

There is a lot to process in these words of Augustine.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.
   

The first football game I watched this season was the Fiesta Bowl last night. I’m convinced that it is The Best football game I’ll ever see.  Boise State (the good guys) beat Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime.  Writers will be scrambling for adjectives to describe the range of emotions both teams experienced during the four hours of drama.  21 points were scored in the last 86 seconds of regulation play!!  You can read a recap here.  After the daring and dramatic two-point conversion, using a trick play, Boise State remained undefeated.  Their QB grew up 1 1/2 hours away from our home, so there is some euphoria over a local boy turned hero. 

The player who ran in the winning play, Ian Johnson, was being interviewed immediately after the game. A cheerleader was nestled under his arm, grinning and looking at the camera.  My daughter-in-law looked at me and asked what I had been wondering, “Do you think that’s his girlfriend or just some cheerleader who wants more air time?”   Next thing, as the nation is focused on him, he takes a knee and asks her to marry him!!  “Uh, I can’t be sure, but it looks like she’s his girlfriend,” I replied. 

So ends my sports blog. Tomorrow: Diet advice from St. Augustine.

We departed from the usual home-with-a-DVD style and celebrated New Year’s Eve at a party.  This morning my husband told me that we were the oldest ones there.  !!!!!  My, my, my.  We joined several families and took over a lovely restaurant which is closed during the winter season.   A local young man invited a score of  NSA (New Saint Andrews) students and grads to join in the festivities.  Musicians, good ones, abounded and we had a great time of listening and singing, chatting, and game playing.  Nourishing soups and crusty breads took the chill off the evening.

I met a young lady whose father is famous.  Instead of the potentially wearisome question, “Are you so and so’s daughter?” I delighted in mentioning ever-so-casually, “Your aunt is my friend.”  Her jaw dropped.  It was the niece of  Dana at Hidden Art.   Now, I’m easily amused; but this is the closest I’ve gotten to meeting one of my online friends in real life (is IRL an acronym?).  I know, a niece in Oregon in not the same as the aunt in Georgia.  But it was a delightful connection and it was fun to be fans together of a lovely lady who, in my mind, is the hallmark of the modern gracious southern lady. 

One of my resolutions this year is to improve my posture.  Slumping is so unattractive; I tend to slump, especially at the computer.  I recently learned a great tip from an intern choir director.  Lift both hands straight above your head.  Lower your arms but keep your shoulders and chest in the same position.  It is a great posture refresher.  A dear lady named Precious, who employed me to clean her house when I was in the 8th grade, used to admonish me, “Look at the third story, Carol!  Keep your shoulders back and your chin up.”  Can you recommend any other exercises for good posture?

Sung to the tune of Greensleeves, author unknown

The old year now away is fled, the new year now is entered;
Then let us now our sins downtread, and joyfully all appear.
Merry be the holiday, and let us run with sport and play,
Hang sorrow, cast care away, God send you a Happy New Year!

And now with New Year’s gifts each friend unto each other they do send;
God grant we may our lives amend, and that the truth may appear.
Like the snake cast off your skin of evil thoughts and wicked sin,
To amend this new year begin, God send us a Merry New Year!