The Latin hymn for Lauds this morning includes the lovely word: “diluculo” – break of day or early dawn. It rolls off the tongue. And as I went for an early morning walk in the cold limpid New England Autumn dawn, the sunlight sparkling from the trees seemed to echo: “diluculo!”
 
Last evening hearing the first confessions of the parish religious education children, the only word that caught the experience for me was: “limpid.” Limpid eyes directly engaging my own, as they recounted missteps and shared favorite prayers.
 
Limpid day, limpid eyes, limpid feast. John Dryden’s Ode sings of “bright Cecilia:”
 
    Orpheus could lead the savage race; 
 
      And trees unrooted left their place,
 
        Sequacious of the lyre;        
 
    But bright Cecilia rais’d the wonder higher:  
 
    When to her organ vocal breath was given,   
 
      An angel heard, and straight appear’d         
 
        Mistaking Earth for Heaven.