Saturday, February 23, 2008

A thought for Lent 3

Here's one for tomorrow:

For me, kind Jesu, was thine incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation;
Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesu, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,
Think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.
(Robert Bridges/J. Heermann)

A thought for Lent 2

A bit late this week…but here it is.

Then why, O blessed Jesu Christ,
Should I not love thee well,
Not for the sake of winning heaven
Or of escaping hell;
Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord!

(Latin, tr. Caswall)

Monday, February 11, 2008

A thought for Lent 1

I forgot to mention in that last post that for Lent, I have given up complaining. I am also trying to follow the carbon fast, the lent experiment, and love life live lent 2. And now, in addition, I shall try to put a thought a week on here. The first one is one of my favourite taizé chants. We sang it in the Sibiu taizé service and now every time we sing it it takes me right back to that evening. A very spiritual experience. Anyway, it should speak for itself:

Nada te turbe, nada te espante
Quien a Dios tiene, nada le falta
Nada te turbe, nada te espante
Solo Dios basta


Spring sunshine, syntax, singing… and a limp

So what have I been doing, so far, in 2008? Well might you ask. Here we are in the middle of week four of my penultimate term at university, and I've gone silent. Well, here, in brief, is what it looks like:
•Weekends away
Despite the fact that in first and second year I only once managed to escape from Cambridge (except when required to by choir jaunts), this term I have not only a choir weekend away coming up, but have also already been away twice. Number one was to Dublin, where I visited Ernie and met the rest of the cathedral choir, and successfully earned myself a position as Lay Vicar Choral there next year, should I go to do an mphil there (which has yet to be seen).
Number two was to Pangbourne and Oxford, via meeting Emma, Helen and Pete in London. Pangbourne, to meet up with Mylene and see where it is that she's living and working this year–seems rather nice! And then Oxford. Now, it's two years since I was last there (surprisingly) and it has changed a little–on the surface, that is. But in the crisp clear spring sunshine, it was in its full glory and it reminded me just why it was that I never wanted to leave. Plus it was lovely to catch up, if briefly, with claire and pip. Maybe I'll make it over there again before too long…any jobs going? ?
• Work-wise, I'm tied up in finishing that dissertation, of course, but also need to crack on with a lot of essays in french, one on romance syntax, and I've just translated some untranslatable Proust. Mmm.
•Parties with a limp
I've been struggling a bit to get out and about this week because on tuesday (before the legendary pancake party, not after!) I fell up the stairs and did nasty things to my toe(nail). It's getting a bit better now, but it's been restricting my movement somewhat…
•Churchy business
The last couple of days have involved a lot of churchy debates, and one incredibly good sermon given by the dean of king's (but in Selwyn chapel). I won't go into a long rant on here, because other people are much better qualified to do so, but I shall direct you to this http://www.dunc.info/ blog of a friend of a friend of a friend's, who seems to have written something more or less approximating to sense. Maybe I will write more on it when I am feeling more lucid.
• Next year–don't ask me now, but I am thinking about it…which may be what is taking up some of my time when I ought to be writing essays!! More news when there is some. If you spot a job ad that sounds like me, send it this way…
• I also auditioned for the college music prize, went to two plays in the corpus playroom, and a few concerts here in college. And I am rowing and erging more than before because we need to get on to bumps. And I got two punctures in my bike tyres. I've been keeping busy…