Today is the Feast of Saint Peter of the "Golden Word" (St. Peter Chrysologus). During the Office of Readings this morning (at 4:45 a.m.!) we read from one of his ancient homilies about The Incarnation and Human Dignity. I thought this section from the reading a lovely addition to today's blog post giving you a peek at some of the little oases of beauty on our monastic grounds.

Was not this entire visible universe made for your dwelling? It was for you that the light dispelled the overshadowing gloom; for your sake was the night regulated and the day measured, and for you were the heavens embellished with the varying brilliance of the sun, the moon and the stars. The earth was adorned with flowers, groves and fruit; and the constant marvelous variety of lovely living things was created in the air, the fields, and the seas for you, lest sad solitude destroy the joy of God’s new creation.

And the Creator still works to devise things that can add to your glory. He has made you in his image that you might in your person make the invisible Creator present on earth; he has made you his legate, so that the vast empire of the world might have the Lord’s representative.

Read all here

Hover over image to read the caption. Click on photo to enlarge pictures...enjoy!