Marriam-Webster:
a(1): a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something
(2): an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking
(3): an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure
b: a revealing scene or moment
St. James Farm Forest Preserve, DuPage County
Marriam-Webster:
capitalized : January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ
St. James Farm Forest Preserve
To celebrate Epiphany, our community sang a song written in 1857: We Three Kings of Orient Are. John Hopkins’ verse is definitely mid-nineteenth century turgidity. (Marriam-Webster: Turgidity: excessively embellished in style or language) Then it ends in a wonderful last verse: “Alleluia, Alleluia” sounds through the earth and skies.
Blackwell Forest Preserve, DuPage County
How to be attuned to the Alleluia that sounds through the earth and skies? It is always there, and most everywhere. But winter storms in a forest let it resound.
St. James Forest Preserve
And sometimes a friend stops to say: “Look here.”
Herrick Lake Forest Preserve
So let’s look closer.
Herrick Lake Forest Preserve, DuPage County
In 1914, following urging by landscape architect Jens Jenson, and urban planner Daniel Burnham, the voters of Cook County established the first forest preserve in the country. The next year, neighboring DuPage County, where all these images are taken, voted to create forest preserves there. The following year, Congress created the National Park Service. All places to hear the Alleluias.
Herrick Lake Forest Preserve
Walking in the woods was like being in a snow globe.
Herrick Lake Forest Preserve
Epiphany was celebrated as a holiday even before Christmas. Eventually, the church set Christmas Day as December 25 and Epiphany as January 6. Epiphany Eve was called the Twelfth Night. This winter we saw a wonderful production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It starts: If music be the food of love, play on.
Herrick Lake Forest Preserve
Father and son Ben and David Crystal have just published a new book—Everyday Shakespeare: Lines for Life. They have a theme for each month, a quote for each day, and some commentary. For March 26th, they have a line from Twelfth Night, and provide this context: “The sea captain Antonio has been arrested for setting foot in Illyria. He asks the disguised Viola for help, supposing her to be his friend Sebastian (who turns out to be Viola’s lost twin brother) . . . When he/she refuses, Antonio is distraught, and harangues him/her for being so shameful.”
In Nature, there’s no blemish but the mind,
None can be called deformed, but the unkind.
And the Crystals comment: “Perhaps the only blemish (“fault”) in life is the way we think, or the way we treat each other. Be kind. (Especially to yourself.)
St. James Farm