| Manhattan in the 1970s was quite a dreary place to live as evidenced by the intriguingly iconic yet amply anomalous subway map designed by Massimo Vignelli with its beige waters and grey parks. While the map very purposely did not seek accuracy in geography, in popular imagination it wasn’t that far off in describing the actual state of the environmental aesthetic. Decades of benign neglect turned beauteous Beaux-Arts buildings into harried haunted hulks of an alien age. The local ragged rugrats played in an abandoned lot whose haphazard layer of black asphalt barely covered the jutting slabs of ashen concrete foundations of the old razed building. But on the rusty fire escapes the Puerto Rican mothers had a hint of home: colorful potted plants full of flowers and even fruits and vegetables.The term ‘Roodmas’ comes, like its sainted siblings Christmas, Candlemas, Michaelmas, et cetera, from Middle English with ‘rood’ or ‘rod’ meaning the cross, and ‘mas’, of course, for the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The feast, historically kept on May 3rd, commemorates the finding, in the year of Our Lord 326, of the True Cross upon which hung the Body of our blessed Redeemer in Jerusalem by that pious princess, her imperial majesty, Saint Helena. Since in the Northern Hemisphere the Spring planting season is commenced around this time the Roman Ritual maternally provides a Blessing of Crosses to be Placed in Fields and Vineyards:V. Our help is in the name of the Lord. R. Who made heaven and earth. V. The Lord be with you. R. And with your spirit.
Let us pray. Almighty, everlasting God, Father of goodness and consolation, in virtue of the bitter suffering of thy Sole-Begotten Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, endured for us sinners on the wood of the Cross, bless these crosses which thy faithful will erect in their vineyards, fields, and gardens. Protect the land where they are placed from hail, tornado, storm, and every assault of the enemy, so that their fruits ripened to the harvest may be gathered to thy honor by those who place their hope in the holy Cross of thy Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with thee eternally. Amen.
And maybe that will keep away that pesky Pablo the Pigeon and his persnickety pecking! Mr. Screwtape |
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