Illuminations

At one time in church history, monks copied manuscripts, primarily The Bible, and adorned them with illuminations on the page.  The act of copying is an art and the painting of illumination is an art.  Few of those manuscripts of the sacred Word for living survive today.

The art of illumination happens still today but not in prized manuscripts or copied pages.  More often than not its in today's disposal mediums, print and digital.  Their life is intended to be while the reader's eye is on the page.  The art is clarity.  We miss many illuminations because their production is daily and fleeting.

One illumination appears in today's Washington Post.  An opinion column written by Michael Gerson entitled, "Elevated by the Common Good."  His writing is an act of common good because he does not agree with the book he describes, Common Good by Jim Wallis.  He illuminates where he and Mr. Wallis agree and disagree and why.  He makes his points based on a thorough knowledge of faith principals and values yet he does not share about his own faith or question Jim Wallis' because they disagree.  The article is an illumination of religion speaking in the public square to build up our human and civic community.  Worth reading both Mr. Gerson and Mr. Wallis.