{"id":1686,"date":"2016-01-06T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T05:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1686"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:48:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:48:01","slug":"jan-6-feast-of-the-epiphany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/01\/06\/jan-6-feast-of-the-epiphany\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan 6 – Feast of The Epiphany"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, January 6 –\u00a0\u201cSometimes if you move carefully”<\/strong><\/p>\n

These days, in US Roman Catholic practice, the Feast of Epiphany is celebrated on the first Sunday after New Year\u2019s Day. \u00a0The logic is that more people can make it to the second great feast of the 12 days of Christmas on a weekend. \u00a0It\u2019s a little confusing, perhaps, because of the popularity of the Twelve Days of Christmas song (e.g., \u201cfive gold rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and the partridge in a pear tree . . . \u201d etc.). \u00a0Count 12 from Dec 25 and you get January 6. \u00a0Today\u2019s post offers a shout out to that older tradition.<\/p>\n

“Epiphany”<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi;<\/li>\n
  2. sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”\u00a0(http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/epiphany)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Universities aim at maintaining an Epiphany-friendly place where students and faculty and\u00a0staff and administrators work to foster moments of insight nicely described in the second definition just above. \u00a0The work of learning, the challenges that faculty and staff encourage, should lead to moments of intuitive discovery that change someone\u2019s thinking. \u00a0There may be no deeper joy than a moment when a student\u2019s eyes light up and s\/he\u00a0\u201cgets it!\u201d \u00a0Such moments make the whole labor-intensive process of teaching and mentoring and learning worth the work. \u00a0 \u00a0Often it is those moments that students remember years after they have moved on in their lives. \u00a0From the\u00a0Epiphany perspective, a university does\u00a0its job when it is disruptive. That\u2019s also what the story of the Magi says. \u00a0Three strangers turn up in the Jerusalem palace of Herod with a question from their strange land that so frightened the King that he erupted in violence which forced the little sacred family to flee in the night.<\/p>\n

    Real\u00a0epiphany questions can do that; they challenge deep-down assumptions.\u00a0 David Whyte, today\u2019s poet, does not use the word\u00a0\u201cEpiphany\u201d in this demanding and disturbing poem but to me he sounds like a very good teacher. \u00a0 Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

    Enjoy mid-week of week one of 2016.<\/p>\n

    john sj<\/p>\n

    Today\u2019s Post –\u00a0\u201cSometimes\u201d \u00a0\u00a0by David Whyte<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Sometimes
    \nif you move carefully
    \nthrough the forest<\/p>\n

    breathing
    \nlike the ones
    \nin the old stories<\/p>\n

    who could cross
    \na shimmering bed of dry leaves
    \nwithout a sound,<\/p>\n

    you come
    \nto a place
    \nwhere the only task<\/p>\n

    is to trouble you
    \nwith tiny
    \nbut frightening requests<\/p>\n

    conceived out of nowhere
    \nbut in this place
    \nbeginning to lead everywhere.<\/p>\n

    Requests to stop what
    \nyou are doing right now,
    \nand<\/p>\n

    to stop what you
    \nare becoming
    \nwhile you do it,<\/p>\n

    questions
    \nthat can make
    \nor unmake
    \na life,<\/p>\n

    questions
    \nthat have patiently
    \nwaited for you,<\/p>\n

    questions
    \nthat have no right
    \nto go away.<\/p>\n

    ~David Whyte from\u00a0Everything is Waiting for You<\/p>\n

    \"David-Whyte\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Wednesday, January 6 –\u00a0\u201cSometimes if you move carefully” These days, in US Roman Catholic practice, the Feast of Epiphany is celebrated on the first Sunday after New Year\u2019s Day. \u00a0The logic is that more people can make it to the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1686"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1689,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}