Salvation Sound - May 2007

Posted on May 17, 2007

"Sing ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song
And let young lambs bound as to the tabor's sound
We in thought will join your throng
Ye that pipe and ye that play
Ye that through your hearts today
Feel the gladness of the May."

'Ode' Wordsworth.

Rogation Days are the three days preceding Ascension Day. Ascension Day commemorates the visible rising of Jesus Christ to heaven; and they all occur in this month; 17th - 18th - 19th and Sunday 20th of May.

On rogation days the Roman Catholic Church sung or recited special litanies, to invoke a blessing on the years growing crops; some church's congregations would undertake a farm walk, with the Clergy blessing the fields and animals as they went.

Rogation: The farmer and his workers did "farm walking" every day, summer and winter. A popular image in the past was of the farmer leaning on a gate staring at his fields, with a faithful dog sitting beside him. The atmosphere sedate and noticeably quiet! But May is an 'outdoor workday' month for those on farms, (apart from milking and sheep shearing); it is said that unless weeds are killed off in May they will never be properly subdued all summer. Grass means that livestock can live outdoors night and day. Growth of everything is rapid at this season of the year, and lighter evenings make for longer working days.

It is good to walk, for then we can commune with all we see. As Christians we walk in the way of the Lord as best we can. Jesus walked; He made the lame to walk; with Him we can walk along in timeless friendship, with the knowledge that He died, but rose again and ascended into heaven there to sit at God's right hand. Psalm 119 v.35; in The New Living Bible states,

"Make me walk along the path of your commands,
for that is where my happiness is found."

"And did those feet in ancient time, walk upon England's mountains green ? And was the Holy Lamb of God on England's pleasant pastures seen ? "

William Blake thought it well within the bounds of possibility. When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead His presence filled the whole world. Set free from the limitations of being a human being, His Spirit pervaded the whole earth from that day to this.

Did He really walk our country's fields and farmland;? it is possible that He did - I would like to believe it, but what really matters is that the Spirit of Jesus Christ is everpresent with us today.......

Source: Focus, May 2007