2012 calendar: January

Yesterday I put away my 2011 calendars and set out my new 2012 ones. There are two RSCJ calendar makers in my province: both are gifted photographers, and each autumn they produce lovely desktop calendars, with a seasonal photo for each month, accompanied by a quote from our foundress, Society documents or elsewhere. This year one calendar has quotes from our Constitutions and the other, from our house of prayer in Brecon, uses Thomas Merton and other writers on prayer and contemplation. The calendars enjoy a wide distribution, and make lovely little gifts - as several of my friends can testify! I have one of each, in different places where my eye will fall on one or the other at different times.

The idea of finding and matching quotes with photos strikes me as enjoyably creative, as well as being a nice reflective practice. So I've decided to get in on the act, in a relatively easy, cost-free way, courtesy of this blog. At the beginning of each month I will post one of my own seasonal photos and a quote from one of Paul's Letters, which will undoubtedly help me with my resolution to spend time reading Paul this year. There are 13 letters, so - if I put the two shortest together - I will ensure I read one letter each month, while the 'task' of finding something appropriate to share will hopefully help me to reflect on what I am reading.

As this is January, the gateway into the new year, and the month in which I was born, I'll start with I Thessalonians, commonly held to be the first letter Paul wrote. It's also the one where my namesake - Silvanus - makes his first appearance, right at the beginning. But I am going to begin at the end - the penultimate sentence in fact. New Year is a time for new beginnings, for making all sorts of resolutions - in some cases scary, immense, life-changing ones. So it's as well to remember we don't do any of this scary life-changing stuff alone, or even need to struggle for goodness by ourselves. At the end of several exhortations to greater love and holiness Paul reminds his readers, very simply:

The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this (5:24)

My seasonal photo was taken in University Park last winter. I just loved the sheer incongruity of snow on this tropical palm! But I also remember how still, silent and empty the park was that day; how starkly beautiful the snow-laden trees against an endless pearl-coloured sky. The 'bleak midwinter' can be beautiful, even in all its bleakness.