O Savior, grant blessings!

“According to Holy Tradition, Christ entered the synagogue on September 1 to announce His mission to mankind (Luke 4:16-22). Quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, the Savior proclaimed,

‘The spirit of the Lord is upon Me; because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…’” oca

O Creator and Master of time and the ages,
Triune and Merciful God of all:
grant blessings for the course of this year,
and in Thy boundless mercy save those
who worship Thee and cry out in fear:
“O Savior, grant blessings to all mankind!”

Surprised by an eggplant.

After a week or so of forgetting that I even had one precious eggplant plant growing in the boxes, this beautiful long fruit caught my eye yesterday, trying to hide behind a zucchini leaf. I planted a six pack of seeds for it and only one came up — now I can’t find the seed packet to tell you what variety it is, but I like it best of the three kinds I’ve tried in the last few years. Maybe next year I will try again.

The tomatoes: Brad’s Atomic Grape, my current favorite, since I don’t have any Sungolds to take the Sweetness Prize this year. And a little plum from my tree. Most of the plums I don’t get until they fall off, and as of this last week of August there are still unripe fruits on the trees! I’m trying to check for ripe ones every day. Yesterday I did enjoy a sweet and juicy one, and it was that stand-over-the-sink dripping kind of event that feels like summer.

The silver look is still upon me.

A POET LOOKS AT THE MOON

I hear a woman singing in my garden,
But I look at the moon in spite of her.

I have no thought of trying to find the singer
Singing in my garden;
I am looking at the moon.

And I think the moon is honouring me
With a long silver look.

I blink
As bats fly black across the ray;
But when I raise my head the silver look
Is still upon me.

The moon delights to make eyes of poets her mirror,
And poets are many as dragon scales
On the moonlit sea.

-Chang Jo Hsu [Zhang Ruoxu] (660 – c.720) China
…..Translated by Edward Powys Mathers

Moon Bridge by Judy Jones

 

 

The Forerunner goes joyfully to his death.

Celebrating the Glorious Beheading of the Prophet,
Forerunner and Baptist John.