There You Go Again…

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “But I know something will go wrong. The good never lasts…”

“Why didn’t you just stop with the first thought?” she asked. “With your second thought you cut the good off at the knees. Just be present in the good for a while. No need to jump to a future of bad.”

“Why do I always do that?!” he asked.

“There you go again,” she said, “going to a past where you remind yourself that you make the same mistake over and over again. Just be present. You feel good.”

“But…” he started.

“But you feel good,” she cut him off. “Just sit in that for a while.”

His eyes relaxed. He smirked. He felt good.

All Glory…

Bishop Theodulph of Orleans penned the hymn my heart is singing on this Palm Sunday morning, “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.”

It truly is one of my favorites, made more sacred by the fact that we really only sing it once a year.

He is said to have written it from his prison tower, thrown there by King Louis the Debonair, son of Charlemagne.

The story goes that the Bishop wrote this hymn and, in the year 821 as the Emperor passed by on Palm Sunday heading to Mass at the cathedral, he sang it loudly over the passing procession from his stone entombment. The emperor, taken with the song, released the good Bishop.

Truly the rocks themselves will shout for justice.

-painting by Polly Castor