Saturday, October 22, 2005

An illuminating post



















From Chesterton to lampposts...

from prisms to rosaries...

from Doctor Thursday to us... for Him!

2 comments:

Dr. Thursday said...

Very nice, "R" - and thanks!

I look forward to your visual interpretation of the remaining installments!

The lighthouse is very strangely apt, and I will comment on it now, even if it distorts the sequence a little. Yousee, GKC and Frances used to go from house to house at Christmas with small gifts and good wishes, and the neighbors used to make decorations in their houses to delight the Chestertons. A close friend, Clare Nicholl, related what happened one year:

We always made a great feature of our table decorations and used to compete with each other to think up new things every year. This particular Christmas the table was a concerted family effort. We made them wait in the hall while we arranged the final dramatic effect. When the door to the dining-room was opened, the room was in darkness except for the firelight. In the middle of the table was a seascape (the big looking-glass from the hall) and a ship in full sail towards a high rocky harbour (representing the cobb at Lyme). On the edge of the harbour wall was a toy lighthouse. A nightlight inside made the windows revolve so that the miniature beams shot through the darkness and lit Up the sea and the ship, its sails full set for home. We of course expected pleasure and surprise and plenty of appreciation of our labours. What we were not prepared for was G.K.'s reaction. He came in last, being "taken into dinner" by one of us. He said no word at all, but paused in the doorway and stared and stared. And the sister whose arm was in his was stirred out of all proportion and heard herself muttering her thoughts aloud to G.K. (one of his rarest qualities was that one could literally think aloud to him without fear or self-consciousness). "It reminds me," she said, "of the Salve Regina." And G.K. said below his breath, "Yes - nobis, post hoc exsilium ostende..."}
[-- Maisie Ward, Return To Chesterton 315]

(Behold: the link between the lighthouse and the Rosary - for the Salve Regina is the "Hail Holy Queen" prayer said at the conclusion of the Rosary!)

rhapsody said...

You're very welcome, Dr. T!

Am looking forward to more enlightening posts- (luminescence next, right? :)
Will have to browse through my pictures for more visuals.

Thank you for writing the delightful story about Chesterton & his friends at Christmas. Must say that I do love lighthouses & rainbows- & although I really don't know what I'm talking about, all those humble photons reflected through the most humble rain drops is enough of an allowed glimpse of Heaven to keep me happy for days!

CVA

Pier One

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