(Vulgata: “Si vere utique iustitiam loquimini”) — “If truly you speak justice.”(Traditionally attributed to David; a fierce denunciation of corrupt rulers.) Versus 1 Si vere utique iustitiam loquimini, recta iudicate, filii hominum. If indeed you speak justice, judge rightly, sons of men. Word Notes CommentaryThe Psalm opens as a challenge to rulers and judges: “Do …
(Vulgata: “Miserere mei, Deus, miserere mei”) — “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me.”(Attributed to David when he fled from Saul into the cave.) Versus 1 Miserere mei, Deus, miserere mei,quoniam in te confidit anima mea.Et in umbra alarum tuarum sperabo, donec transeat iniquitas. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful …
Versus 1 Miserere mei, Deus, quoniam conculcavit me homo;tota die impugnans tribulavit me. Have mercy on me, O God, for man has trampled me down;all the day long he fights and oppresses me. Word Notes Versus 2 Conculcaverunt me inimici mei tota die;quoniam multi bellantes adversum me. My enemies have trampled on me all day …
(Vulgata: “Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam”) — “Hear my prayer, O God” Versus 1 Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam,et ne despexeris deprecationem meam. Hear my prayer, O God,and do not despise my pleading. Word Notes Versus 2 Intende mihi, et exaudi me;contristatus sum in exercitatione mea, et conturbatus sum. Attend to me and hear me;I am troubled …
(Vulgata: “Deus, in nomine tuo salvum me fac”) — “Save me, O God, by thy name” Versus 1 Deus, in nomine tuo salvum me fac,et in virtute tua iudica me. O God, save me by your name,and judge me by your power. Word Notes Versus 2 Deus, exaudi orationem meam,auribus percipe verba oris mei. O …
1. Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam; et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam. Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my iniquity. Word Notes: 2. Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea, et a peccato meo munda me. …
A reflection on the inner stillness that frees us from self-rejection and restores our capacity to love. Drawing on Jesus’ teaching of the Shema and contrasting the Western vision of wholeness with the Zen ideal of self-effacement, this meditation explores awareness as a natural state — a flight of the spirit in peace and light.
After 1945, Europe rebuilt not only its cities but also its conscience. What began in Germany as a reckoning with absolute evil became a continental project — the attempt to redeem civilisation through democracy, human rights, and reason. This essay traces that moral arc from guilt to responsibility, from rebellion to fatigue, and from faith in redemption to the disillusionment of the present.
The Rank Organisation’s 1963 short film A New Look at Transport hailed Britain’s motorway boom as a symbol of progress. Six decades later, its optimism reads like prophecy fulfilled in reverse. What the film called “a revolution in transport” has become the slow-motion collapse of civic space: towns turned into car parks, railways gutted, and public life surrendered to the logic of the haulage lobby and the private car.
John Betjeman’s Summoned by Bells is more than an autobiography in verse — it is a meditation on beauty, memory, and faith at the twilight of English modernity. Beneath its gentle rhythms lies a profound moral vision: that sound, place, and craftsmanship can still unite a fractured nation. Betjeman’s England is not nostalgic fantasy but a living cathedral of meaning, where stone and song meet the sacred.