“The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension – above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.”
― St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation
GALATIANS 4:1-7
1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
ST. THOMAS’S PRAYER OF BEFORE STUDY
Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of our understanding. Take from us the double darkness in which we have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance. Give us keen understanding, retentive memories, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant us the talent of being exact in our explanations and the ability to express ourselves with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
ART APPRECIATION
This painting of Monet’s is different from many of his other paintings. It is a gray, winter day. There is not a lot of natural light in the painting. The subject of the painting is not nature itself but a train. We see the train either arriving at or departing from the station.
1
Claude Monet (1840-1926) was born in Paris, though he later moved to Normandy when he was five to live with an older brother. He did not like being confined to a classroom and preferred being outside. He loved drawing from an early age and would draw caricatures of the people in his town. When he decided to study painting, he moved back to Paris. Monet was one of the most famous painters in art history and one of the founders of the Impressionist style. It was not uncommon for Monet to paint the same view of a subject several times to capture it in different lighting, sometimes lining up canvases and painting as quickly as he could. Some of Monet’s favorite subjects were the gardens around his home. The Waterlily Bridge is one of his most famous of these.
2
MUSIC APPRECIATION
“Boléro” by Maurice Ravel
Boléro, one-movement orchestral work composed by Maurice Ravel and known for beginning softly and ending, according to the composer’s instructions, as loudly as possible. Commissioned by the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, Boléro was first performed at the Paris Opéra on November 22, 1928, with a dance choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska. The work has been featured in many films since its creation, but it was an integral part of the plot in Blake Edwards’s film 10 (1979), starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek.
3
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was one of the most sophisticated musicians of the early 20th century. Showing great musical promise as a child, he began his piano studies at the Paris Conservatoire when he was just 14 years old. Ravel remained a Conservatoire student off and on for 14 years, adding composition classes with the renowned Gabriel Fauré.
Ravel enthusiastically sought out experiences with a wide range of music, attending performances, for example, at the 1889 Paris Exhibition, where he heard a Javanese gamelan, Russian music by Rimsky-Korsakov, and more. He also joined Les Apaches, a group of literary, musical, and artistic contemporaries which openly shared and discussed a range of cultural topics and trends.4
- Lange, Krista, and Leigh Lowe. First Grade Enrichment: Classical Core Curriculum. Teacher Guide. Memoria Press, 2017. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- “Boléro.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 17 Oct. 2024, http://www.britannica.com/topic/Bolero-by-Ravel.
↩︎ - “Who Was Maurice Ravel? A Brief Introduction.” Who Was Maurice Ravel? A Brief Introduction – Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/news/who-was-maurice-ravel-a-brief-introduction/. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024. ↩︎
Providence School of Tifton 