The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1953-06-12
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment considsrsd or Ineensidsrats

'sains @ommsnf Gonsidsrso or lneenaIderats
when the poet Lowell, doing his bit on Sir Iaun-
fal, came to that interlude about June davS
ne gave It all he had. And he gave him
sell away. For no one, reading those lines can
doubt that here is New Englander lust getting
iuliy haMed out after ferocous winter and hxlIr-
latlng lovingly In the bamy springtime He reveals
himself as weather lover, and that is what we all
expect poet to be.
But the line, What is so rare as day in June?
ihen, II ever, come perfect days :" fails TO strike
completely responsive chord in the hearts of mid
western Americans in the twentieth century Toweu
was away up there in New England where the hounds
ot spring are pretty sluggish in getting onto win
lers traces. The chill of mountain air and sea
breeze and Puritan atmosphere concurred to freeze
the genial currents of the soul Ii the poet had
moved out into the Ohio Valley where at anv June
moment he might be sloshed behind the ear nv n
blast OF tropical Gulf air he would have mopped
humid brow, and said something rather different
ahoat June DAYS.
Another poet named Edgar Wilson Nye. known
to everyone as Bill Nye lived in northern Wyom-
ing Tor space. He said. in commenting on Lowelrs
remark about June days, that in Wyoming June days
were often so rare 10 be almost raw Here in the
old tropical Gulf runway, there are no rare June
days they are all we'll done. when heaven tries
eafth II IT be IN tune, and it softly her warm
ear lays" Her would be good deal warmer if
The experiment were tried in this neighborbood.
she might not know whether earth were in tune
but she would know that il was beginning 10 cook
Maybe the June days in New England are still
all that they were In Lowes day II is distressing
tnat the poet, who, more than most men, speaks 10
the universe, should be compelled by natural neees
sly TO cothe his thoughts in local imagery and 10
bring TO his worldwide utterance the accents of his
old nome town. Well, no; after all ii isn't distress
ing blt The speaker is as Important as the
speech The local accent is as desirable as the uni.
Nersal language Of poetry which borrows il pr is
favored by II. We quickly revise our first esti.
mate. We're all for local accents and images
were all for provincalism. The pale people who
are panied by provinciaism are themselves psin
to the rest of They are the only really provincial
people, IN the Objectionable sense of the phrase
Their province is mans land of a vapid pseudo.
lntellecluallSm. They sigh over the prevalence of
little local people with little local loyaltes and
lltte local outlook. They do monographs and tone
poems and deeply sensitive critiques And then they
wlther up and die. and all the millions of little local
people 90 on being little and local, completely
unaware that the recently deceased intellectuas
/. were ever born.
But that New England June weather Maybe II
isn't what II was. Science has been nosnp around
again, and the newspapers now report that man IN
this machine age has been turning out such quaint
ties OF carbon monoXide that il blankets the earth
THIS blanket does not block out the heat producing
elements of sunlight but it does imprison them hero
on earth and prevents their escape into what is
grandly called outer space Therefore according to
science or the newspapers, the eartl is getting
warmer all the time. And the June days of
yeste:year even in New England may soon be the
overdone June days of the atomic age
Well, the poetry will endure in any case One
wonders whether the science will be as enduring Or
that one-way blanket of cmonoxide. The soul gets
something out of description of June DAYS even
# II finds contrast between what is written and
what Is experienced. But what the soul get out
of tresomey repetitious picture of the mushroom
cloud" that forms periodically over Yucca Flats?
June different things TO different people
II may mean the first touch of spring TO an Alaskan
IT may mean broiling midsummer in Alabama it
may mean roses in Rochester and tornadoes in To
peks. But there is one thing that June means to the
whole world of Catholics. And that is Devotion
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Church never fools anyone with her seasons
Their spiritual climate is and the same all over
the earth Christmas may a winter wonder
land IN Tin Pan Alley: but its real meaning as the
birthday on earth of GodMade-Man is its true
meaning, and this meaning dsregards both snow and
sunSuoke Easter may mean resurgent spring, il
YOU live on this side of the planet: il can't mean
that in Australia But in the whole Catholic world
Easter means the Resurrection OF Our Lord from the
dead.
And SO June throughout the Church in all the
world, brings the thoughts of the faithful to the
great love for unlovable people that burns in the
heart of Christ. And as love aWakens love June
finds many responsive human heart turning TO
God from earelessness and sin through this most
pleasing and profitable devotion TO the Sacred
heart
The best efforts of man in age of proud
science, are bent upon what will bring ruin and de
structon to tho earth The best gift of God is what
will bring peace and eternal salvation to troubled
human beings. And this gift, available always
through Christs Church, is we'll suggested by
the thought of the Sacred Heart which loves all
In our June devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, we should impore the grace and enlishten-
nent men desperately need to make them see the way
to true and lasting peace.