March Ninth

TEACH me, O Father, how to ask Thee each moment, silently, for Thy help. If I fail, teach me at once to ask Thee to forgive me. If I am disquieted, enable me, by Thy grace, quickly to turn to Thee. May nothing this day come between me and Thee. May I will, do, and say, just what Thou, my loving and tender Father, willest me to will, do and say. Work Thy holy will in me and through me this day. Protect me, guide me, bless me, within and without, that I may do something this day for love of Thee; something which shall please Thee; and that I may, this evening, be nearer to Thee, though I see it not, nor know it. Lead me, O Lord, in a straight way unto Thyself, and keep me in Thy grace unto the end - Amen.

-- E.B. PUSEY
Photo of the Champs Elysee by Ralph Crane, Life magazine archives, 1963

February Tenth

MAN is an animal that has to do something about his ephemerality.
He wants to overcome and be able to say, "You see, I've made a contribution to life. I've advanced life, I've beaten death, I've made the world pure."
But this creates an illusion. The dynamic of evil is the attempt to make the world other than it is, to make it what it cannot be, a place free from accident, a place free from impurity, a place free from death.

-- ERNEST BECKER
photo of Nancy Hanks Lincoln's grave, 1952, by Ralph Crane