Saturday July 7, 2012 Compromise, Mt 9:14-17, Blessed Ralph Milner, Psalm 85, Lyre

Saturday July 7, 2012
Compromise, Mt 9:14-17, Blessed Ralph Milner, Psalm 85, Lyre

Good Day Bloggers! 
Wishing everyone a Wonderful Weekend!

We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well, make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes from this earth to Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...

"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
 

Today's word:  Compromise   com·pro·mise   [koh-pruh-mahyz]  noun/verb 

Origin: 1400-1500; Late Middle English < French compromis, Latin compromissum

noun

1.a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.

2.the result of such a settlement.

3.something intermediate between different things: The split-level is a compromise between a ranch house and a multistoried house.

4.an endangering, especially of reputation; exposure to danger, suspicion, etc.: a compromise of one's integrity.

verb (used with object)

5.to settle by a compromise.

6.to expose or make vulnerable to danger, suspicion, scandal, etc.; jeopardize: a military oversight that compromised the nation's defenses.

7.Obsolete,

verb (used without object)

8.to make a compromise or compromises: The conflicting parties agreed to compromise.

9.to make a dishonorable or shameful concession: He is too honorable to compromise with his principles.

Today's Gospel Reading - Saturday, July 7, 2012 Matthew 9,14-17

 

PATENIER, Joachim
Landscape with St John the Baptist Preaching

Then John's disciples came to Jesus and said, 'Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?'  Jesus replied, 'Surely the bridegroom's attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth onto an old cloak, because the patch pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine in fresh skins and both are preserved.'

Reflection

• Matthew 9, 14: The question of the disciples of John concerning the practice of fasting. Fasting is quite an ancient use, practiced by almost all religions.  Jesus himself practiced it during forty days (Mt 4, 2). But he does not insist with the disciples so that they do the same thing. He leaves them free. Because of this, the disciples of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees, who were obliged to fast, want to know why Jesus does not insist on fasting “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?”

• Matthew 9, 15: The answer of Jesus.  Jesus answers with a comparison in the form of a question: “Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them?”  Jesus associates fasting to mourning, and he considers himself the bridegroom.  When the bridegroom is with his friends, that is, during the wedding feast, they have no need to fast.  When Jesus is with them, with his disciples, it is a feast, the wedding feast. Therefore, they should not fast. But one day the bridegroom will go away.  It will be a day of mourning. Then, if they want they can fast. Jesus refers to his death. He knows and feels that if he continues on this way of liberty, the authority will want to kill him.

• Matthew 9, 16-17: New wine in new skins! In these two verses, the Gospel of Matthew gives two separate phrases of Jesus on the patch of new cloth on an old cloak and of the new wine in new skins. These words throw light on the discussions and the conflicts of Jesus with religious authority of the time.  A patch of new cloth is not put on an old cloak; because when washing it, the new piece of cloth shrinks and pulls on the old cloak and tears it and the tear becomes bigger.  Nobody puts new wine in old skins, because when the new wine ferments, it tears the old skins. New wine in new skins! The religion defended by the religious authority was like a piece of old cloth, like an old skin. Both the disciples of John and the Pharisees, tried to renew the religion.

In reality, they hardly put some patches and because of this, they ran the risk of compromising and harming both the novelty as well as the old uses.  It is not necessary to want to change the novelty which Jesus brings to us for the old uses. Either one or the other! The new wine which Jesus brings to us tears the old skins.  It is necessary to know how to separate things. Most probably, Matthew presents these words of Jesus to orientate the communities of the years 80’s. There was a group of Jew-Christians who wanted to reduce the novelty of Jesus to the Judaism of the time before the coming of Jesus.  Jesus is not against what is “old”.  He does not want that what is old be imposed on that which is new and, that it prevents it from manifesting itself.  Vatican II cannot be reread with the mentality before the Council, like some try to do today.
 

Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.

Featured Items from Litany Lane

 

 

 

Saint of the Day:  Venerable Ralph Milner

Martyrdom by Church of England

Feast Day; July 7
Died: 1591

English martyr. He was born at Stocksteads, Hampshire, and was a convert. He was arrested the day he received his first Communion. A husbands man by trade, Ralph was allowed a leave from prison and aided priests and Catholics. He was executed at Winchester on July by being hanged, drawn, and quartered for giving assistance to Blessed Roger Dickenson. He was beatified in 1929.

Ralph Milner (born at Flacsted, Hampshire, England, early in the sixteenth century; executed at Winchester, 7 July 1591) was an English Roman Catholic layman. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.

Life

The greater part of his life was probably passed in his native village, where, being practically illiterate, he supported his wife and eight children by manual labor. He was brought up an Anglican, but became a Catholic convert. On the very day of his first Communion, however, he was arrested for changing his religion and committed to Winchester jail.

Here his good behavior meant he was frequently allowed out on parole, and was even trusted with the keys of the prison. This leniency enabled him to introduce priests to administer the sacraments to Catholic prisoners. He then acted as escort first to Father Thomas Stanney, and later to his successor at Winchester, Father Roger Dicconson, conducting them to the different villages to minister to Catholics.

Finally seized with Father Dicconson, Milner was with him placed under close confinement in Winchester jail pending the approaching sessions. The judge urged Milner to attend even once the Protestant church and thus escape the gallows. He refused and began to prepare for death. Every effort was made to persuade him to change his purpose and renounce the Catholic faith. When he was approaching the gallows with Father Dicconson, his children were led to him in the hope that he might even then relent. He was unshaken in his resolution, and gave his children his last blessing.

References: Courtesy of Wikipedia

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Venerable Ralph Milner". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

Today's Snippet: 

Psalm 85  - A prayer for God's grace to assist us to the end. 

 

The Punishment of Korah, Dathan, Abarim, 1481 Botticelli

For the Chief Musician.
A psalm of the sons of Korah.

I

2 You once favored, LORD, your land,

restored the captives of Jacob.

3 You forgave the guilt of your people,

pardoned all their sins.

4 You withdrew all your wrath,

turned back from your burning anger.

II

5 Restore us, God of our salvation;

let go of your displeasure with us.

6 Will you be angry with us forever,

prolong your anger for all generations?

7 Certainly you will again restore our life,

that your people may rejoice in you.

8 Show us, LORD, your mercy;

grant us your salvation.

III

9 I will listen for what God, the LORD, has to say;

surely he will speak of peace

To his people and to his faithful.

May they not turn to foolishness!

10 Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him;

glory will dwell in our land.

11^* Love and truth will meet;

justice and peace will kiss.

12 Truth will spring from the earth;

justice will look down from heaven.

13 Yes, the LORD will grant his bounty;

our land will yield its produce.

14J ustice will march before him,

and make a way for his footsteps.

* [Psalm 85] A national lament reminding God of past favors and forgiveness (Ps 85:2–4) and begging for forgiveness and grace now (Ps 85:5–8). A speaker represents the people who wait humbly with open hearts (Ps 85:9–10): God will be active on their behalf (Ps 85:11–13). The situation suggests the conditions of Judea during the early postexilic period, the fifth century B.C.; the thoughts are similar to those of postexilic prophets (Hg 1:5–11; 2:6–9).

* [85:9] The prophet listens to God’s revelation, cf. Heb 2:1

* [85:11–13] Divine activity is personified as pairs of virtues.

Today's Art History:  Lyre

Courtesy of Wikipedia

 Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 BCE

The lyre (Greek: λύρα) is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" (lyra) and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script. The earliest picture of a lyre with seven strings appears in the famous sarcophagus of Hagia Triada (a Minoan settlement in Crete). The sarcophagus was used during the Mycenaean occupation of Crete (1400 BC). The recitations of the Ancient Greeks were accompanied by lyre playing. The lyre of classical antiquity was ordinarily played by being strummed with a plectrum, like a guitar or a zither, rather than being plucked, like a harp. The fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings in the chord. The lyre is similar in appearance to a small harp but with distinct differences.

The word lyre can either refer specifically to a common folk-instrument, which is a smaller version of the professional kithara and eastern-Aegean barbiton, or lyre can refer generally to all three instruments as a family.

In organology, lyres are defined as "yoke lutes", being lutes in which the strings are attached to a yoke which lies in the same plane as the sound-table and consists of two arms and a cross-bar.

The term is also used metaphorically to refer to the work or skill of a poet, as in Shelley's "Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is" or Byron's "I wish to tune my quivering lyre,/To deeds of fame, and notes of fire"

Lyre from various times and places are regarded by some organologists (specialists in the history of musical instruments) as a branch of the zither family, a general category that includes not only zithers, but many different stringed instruments, such as lutes, guitars, kantele, and psalteries.

Others view the lyre and zither as being two separate classes. Those specialists maintain that the zither is distinguished by strings spread across all or most of its soundboard, or the top surface of its sound chest, also called soundbox or resonator, as opposed to the lyre, whose strings emanate from a more or less common point off the soundboard, such as a tailpiece. Examples of that difference include a piano (a keyed zither) and a violin (referred to by some as a species of fingerboard lyre). Some specialists even argue that instruments such as the violin and guitar belong to a class apart from the lyre because they have no yokes or uprights surmounting their resonators as "true" lyres have. This group they usually refer to as the lute class, after the instrument of that name, and include within it the guitar, the violin, the banjo, and similar stringed instruments with fingerboards. Those who differ with that opinion counter by calling the lute, violin, guitar, banjo, and other such instruments "independent fingerboard lyres," as opposed to simply "fingerboard lyres" such as the Welsh crwth, which have both fingerboards and frameworks above their resonators.

One point on which organologists universally agree is that lyres are closely related to harps (and, in some views, lutes). The other point of agreement is that harps are different from lyres in having strings emanating directly up from the soundboard and residing in a plane that is near perpendicular to the soundboard, as opposed to lyres, lutes, zithers and similar instruments, whose strings are attached to one or more points somewhere off the soundboard (e.g.., wrest pins on a zither, tailpiece on a lyre or lute) and lie in a plane essentially parallel to it. They also agree that neither the overall size of the instrument nor the particular number of strings on it are essential to the classification of these instruments. For example, small Scottish and Irish harps can be held on the lap, while some ancient Sumerian lyres appear to have been as tall as a seated man (see Kinsky; also Sachs, History ..., under "References"). Regarding the number of strings, the standard 88-key piano has many more strings than even the largest harp, and harps have many more strings than lyres.

Construction

 Sutton Hoo royal burial, late 6 AD

A classical lyre has a hollow body or sound-chest (also known as soundbox or resonator), which, in ancient Greek tradition, was made out of turtle shell. Extending from this sound-chest are two raised arms, which are sometimes hollow, and are curved both outward and forward. They are connected near the top by a crossbar or yoke. An additional crossbar, fixed to the sound-chest, makes the bridge which transmits the vibrations of the strings. The deepest note was that farthest from the player's body; as the strings did not differ much in length, more weight may have been gained for the deeper notes by thicker strings, as in the violin and similar modern instruments, or they were tuned by having a slacker tension. The strings were of gut. They were stretched between the yoke and bridge, or to a tailpiece below the bridge. There were two ways of tuning: one was to fasten the strings to pegs which might be turned; the other was to change the place of the string upon the crossbar; probably both expedients were used simultaneously.

According to ancient Greek mythology, the young god Hermes stole a herd of sacred cows from Apollo. In order not to be followed, he made shoes for the cows which forced them to walk backwards. Apollo, following the trails, could not follow where the cows were going. Along the way, Hermes slaughtered one of the cows and offered all but the entrails to the gods. From the entrails he created the Lyre. Apollo, figuring out it was Hermes who had his cows, confronted the young god. Apollo was furious, but after hearing the sound of the lyre, his anger faded. Apollo offered to trade the herd of cattle for the lyre. Hence, the creation of the lyre is attributed to Hermes.

Locales in southern Europe, western Asia, or north Africa have been proposed as the historic birthplace of the genus. The instrument is still played in north-eastern parts of Africa.

Some of the cultures using and developing the lyre were the Aeolian and Ionian Greek colonies on the coasts of Asia (ancient Asia Minor, modern day Turkey) bordering the Lydian empire. Some mythic masters like Musaeus, and Thamyris were believed to have been born in Thrace, another place of extensive Greek colonization. The name kissar (kithara) given by the ancient Greeks to Egyptian box instruments reveals the apparent similarities recognized by Greeks themselves. The cultural peak of ancient Egypt, and thus the possible age of the earliest instruments of this type, predates the 5th century classic Greece. This indicates the possibility that the lyre might have existed in one of Greece's neighboring countries, either Thrace, Lydia, or Egypt, and was introduced into Greece at pre-classic times.

Number of strings on the classical lyre

The number of strings on the classical lyre varied at different epochs, and possibly in different localities—four, seven and ten having been favorite numbers. They were used without a fingerboard, no Greek description or representation having ever been met with that can be construed as referring to one. Nor was a bow possible, the flat sound-board being an insuperable impediment. The pick, or plectrum, however, was in constant use. It was held in the right hand to set the upper strings in vibration; when not in use, it hung from the instrument by a ribbon. The fingers of the left hand touched the lower strings (presumably to silence those whose notes were not wanted).

There is no evidence as to the stringing of the Greek lyre in the heroic age. Plutarch says that Olympus and Terpander used but three strings to accompany their recitation. As the four strings led to seven and eight by doubling the tetrachord, or series of four tones filling in the interval of a perfect fourth, so the trichord is connected with the hexachord or six-stringed lyre depicted on many archaic Greek vases. The accuracy of this representation cannot be insisted upon, the vase painters being little mindful of the complete expression of details; yet one may suppose their tendency would be rather to imitate than to invent a number. It was their constant practice to represent the strings as being damped by the fingers of the left hand of the player, after having been struck by the plectrum which he held in the right hand. Before Greek civilization had assumed its historic form, there was likely to have been great freedom and independence of different localities in the matter of lyre stringing, which is corroborated by the antique use of the chromatic (half-tone) and enharmonic (quarter-tone) tunings pointing to an early exuberance, and perhaps also to a bias towards refinements of intonation.

Central and Northern Europe

Muse with Lyre 1560 Veronese

Other instruments known as lyres have been fashioned and used in Europe outside the Greco-Roman world since at least the Iron Age. The remains of a 2300 year old lyre was discovered on the Isle of Skye, Scotland in 2010 making it Europe’s oldest surviving stringed musical instrument. Material evidence suggests lyres became more widespread during the early Middle Ages, and one view holds that many modern stringed instruments are late-emerging examples of the lyre class. There is no clear evidence that non-Greco-Roman lyres were played exclusively with plectra, and numerous instruments regarded by some as modern lyres are played with bows.

Lyres appearing to have emerged independently of Greco-Roman prototypes were used by the Teutonic, Gallic, Scandinavian, and Celtic peoples over a thousand years ago. Dates of origin, which probably vary from region to region, cannot be determined, but the oldest known fragments of such instruments are thought to date from around the sixth century of the Common Era. After the bow made its way into Europe from the Middle-East, around two centuries later, it was applied to several species of those lyres that were small enough to make bowing practical. There came to be two broad classes of bowed European yoke lyres: those with fingerboards dividing the open space within the yoke longitudinally, and those without fingerboards. The last surviving examples of instruments within the latter class were the Scandinavian talharpa and the Finnish jouhikko. Different tones could be obtained from a single bowed string by pressing the fingernails of the player's left hand against various points along the string to fret the string.

The last of the bowed yoke lyres with fingerboard was the "modern" (ca. 1485 – ca. 1800) Welsh crwth. It had several predecessors both in the British Isles and in Continental Europe. Pitch was changed on individual strings by pressing the string firmly against the fingerboard with the fingertips. Like a violin, this method shortened the vibrating length of the string to produce higher tones, while releasing the finger gave the string a greater vibrating length, thereby producing a tone lower in pitch. This is the principle on which the modern violin and guitar work.

While the dates of origin and other evolutionary details of the European bowed yoke lyres continue to be disputed among organologists, there is general agreement that none of them were the ancestors of modern orchestral bowed stringed instruments, as once was thought.

Lyres around the world

Europe

• Scotland: gue
• England: rote
• Wales: crwth
• Continental Europe: Germanic or Ango-Saxon lyre (hearpe)
• Norway: giga
• Estonia: talharpa
• Finland: jouhikko

Asia

• Israel: kinnor
• Iraq: sammu, tanbūra, zami, zinar
• Arabian peninsula: tanbūra
• Yemen: tanbūra, simsimiyya
• Pakistan: barbat, ektara, tanbūra
• India: ektara
• Bangladesh: ektara
• Siberia: nares-jux

Africa

• Egypt: kissar, tanbūra, simsimiyya
• Sudan: kissar, tanbūra
• Ethiopia: begena, dita, krar
• Uganda: endongo, ntongoli
• Kenya: kibugander, litungu, nyatiti, obokano
• Tanzania: litungu

Other instruments called lyres

After the ancient lyre fell in disuse, the name was used to label unrelated instruments, mostly bowed lutes such as the Byzantine lyra, the Pontic lyra, the Constantinopolitan lyra, the Cretan lyra, the lira da braccio, the Calabrian lira, the lijerica, the lyra viol, the lirone.

References

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lyre". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Andersson, Otto. The Bowed Harp, translated and edited by Kathleen Schlesinger (London: New Temple Press, 1930).
• Bachmann, Werner. The Origins of Bowing, trans. Norma Deane (London: Oxford University Press, 1969).
• Jenkins, J. "A Short Note on African Lyres in Use Today." Iraq 31 (1969), p. 103 (+ pl. XVIII).
• Kinsky, George. A History of Music in Pictures (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1937).
• Sachs, Curt. The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, East and West (New York: W.W. Norton, 1943).
• Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical Instruments (New York: W.W. Norton, 1940).