SUNDAY – 2nd Week in Advent
I had started to read Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom. In the last years of his life he put tremendous effort in the project of collecting the thoughts of the greatest minds for each day. It is a marvellous book.
Unpublished throughout the period of the Soviet dominion it was only first translated into English in 1997. Every day is headed not by a thought but it emerges in the readings. Tuesday’s is on “misconceptions”. For instance, from Pascal:
“One of the evil properties of man is that he loves only himself and wants goodness only for himself. Woe to him who loves only himself.”
The reading from Baruch 5:1-9 today is poetry:
“Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever, wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you. Put the diadem of the glory of the eternal on your head.”
MONDAY – St Ambrose
I go to the Conservative Friends of Israel lunch. Much as I admire the sheer spirit of the Israelis. I notice that no one mentions the plight of the Palestinians as every week a new settlement appears in their midst. Yet the great heritage of the Jews cannot be gainsaid.
After a cold swim in the Serpentine I go to Mass and listen to this from Isaiah 35:1-10:
“Let the wilderness and the dry lands exult. Let the wasteland rejoice and bloom. Let it bring flowers like the jonquil. Let it rejoice and sing for joy. The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it.”
TUESDAY – The Immaculate Conception
There is a debate on allowing EU access to criminal data. The Shadow Home Secretary says security must come first.
I said to him isn’t the first bastion of a nation’s security the civil liberties of its people.
The reading is the story of Adam. In my heart of hearts do I believe it? Not really. I doubt.
Today’s Psalm: “Sing a new song to the Lord, for he has worked wonders.”
WEDNESDAY
I bicycle though the park on a lovely bright blue winter’s day to the residence of the Russian Ambassador. It has a slightly sinister feel if you think what must have gone on here in Soviet times. Yet a pleasant enough conversation. I am now chair of the All-Party Russia Group in an attempt to seek better relations. They could not be worse.
Isaiah: “Lift your eyes and look. Who made these stars, if not he who drills them like an army calling each by name.”
At Father Pat’s service we sing ‘Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est’. As I walk over the Wolds in the dark on Thursday evening I look up and see a bright moonless winter’s night with a thousand stars in a sudden V-shaped break in the clouds. I sing ‘Ubi caritas et amor’ into the silent night.
That Wednesday evening we go to the Knights of Malta carol service. That’s the second, this time by candlelight.
THURSDAY
I char the Public Accounts Commission. I enjoy it as it is the only select committee I now chair and it only meets twice a year.
During the long car journey, over four hours, I read Tolstoy. It is a lot more inspiring and calming than the usual read of The Times. I love this quote from Ruskin: “One of the main obstacles for any positive change in our lives is that we are too busy with our current work or activity.”
Peter stopped fishing at a lake. Paul ceased being a priest. They all left their jobs because they thought it was necessary.
FRIDAY
I walk through Willingham Woods after doing a surgery. The light on this clear day just before 4 pm is one of those strange beautiful yellows illuminating the high trees. I remember no jokes during my speech at the supper club but I suppose it went well. I have no power and little influence at Westminster. There is only one thing left: to speak one’s mind.
SATURDAY
Our village church is locked on a grey rainy day so no Psalm to read.
I rely on Tolstoy – “Kindness defeats everything and can never be defeated.”