God Talk and Tea

If price is no object ....!

Looking for a unique Christmas gift this year? What about a leaf from the first edition, first printing   of the first book every printed – the 1455 Gutenberg Bible. A complete Gutenberg Bible may cost you a whopping $100 million, but for the more frugal gift-giver, a single leaf will only run from $95,000 -- $195,000, depending on which section of the Bible it is from. That cost includes a lovely leather presentation portfolio!

 How do I know this, you may ask? Web research, of course.

 You see, years ago I purchased a magnificent, though water damaged, Bible in a little antique store in Lavalette. The owner routinely set aside many of the religious articles that came in so I could have first dibs. The Bible had been part of an estate, but with large brass clasps and weighing in at more than 14 pounds, this amazing book seemed more appropriate to a church than a family. Even with the damage, just the Bible’s 600 illustrations, including what I believe to be full page Gustave Doré engravings displaying scenes from the Bible, made the book an inspired purchase.

 This year I decided to sell the Bible, which truly deserves a home with someone who can afford to restore it, if possible, to its original beauty. While researching its history so I could set a price, I discovered that if I had found a Gutenberg in that antique store, I would have been set for life, and could have made lots of donations to my favorite charities!

In comparison, my Bible is a bargain.

This huge leather bound Holy Bible titled Browns Self-Interpreting Holy Bible  was published by  American Publishing Company, New York in 1873, and edited by Rev. Henry Cooke, D.D., LL.D. Its two brass clasps are intact and working. Weighing over 14 pounds, it features a deeply embossed and ornately gilded leather exterior.

 Its front cover and several of the first pages have come off and the book will need to have its binding repaired or replaced. For the most part the leaves are clean inside, though some pages do display water stains at the bottom of the pages. This enormous volume consists of more than 1400  pages plus additional appendices. Between the Old and the New Testaments, there are blank family record pages: a Marriage Certificate, a Family Birth Record and a Family Death Record, and in the back, pockets for Family Photographs.

 The Bible contains 600 engravings, (including what research indicates are full page Gustave Doré engravings), and numerous steel plates displaying scenes from the Bible, protected by tissue guards. This magnificent edition of John Brown’s Bible deserves a home with a Bible collector who could invest in its restoration.

 The price for this beautiful Bible is $225. Please contact me at mary.wellspring@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Giving the gift of prayers

Several years ago, while at the shore, I found a very lovely class ring. Not knowing what to do with it, I took it home and put it in my jewelry case and forgot about it. Recently, when cleaning, I rediscovered it. I found the name of the ring company and called, hoping they might have records for that particular school, but learned they didn’t keep records more than a few years. Then I called the school, and was told they would have no way of finding out who the ring belonged to.

 I examined the ring closely and reflected on the symbols the owner had chosen to include in the design. I tried to imagine who might have worn it. From the color of the stone I thought the ring belonged to a woman but when I tried it on, I realized it belonged to a man. Admiring the beauty of the center stone, I thought sadly that the ring was destined to sit forever in my jewelry box.

Then I slipped it on my middle finger and decided that, for Advent, I would wear the ring as a reminder to pray for the owner, not just once a day but every time I felt the ring on my hand or noticed it on my finger. If the ring could no longer adorn the finger of the person who owned it, at least it would serve as a catalyst to adorn that person’s life with blessings.

 May you be gifted with many prayers during this holy season!

Bringing the Nativity into our hearts and homes

Last weekend, in a rare episode of cleaning frenzy, I came across a box that never made it back to the attic after the Christmas season last year — the Nativity. It brought to mind the unfortunate truth that Christmas is also the season of court battles over separation of Church and state, and the nativity scene, as symbolic of Christ’s birth, is often at the center of the battle. Tradition tells us that the second century Roman Emperor Hadrian, in an attempt to stem the tide of Chris­tianity, established a pagan temple upon the site of Christ’s birth. It seems the Emperor was well aware of the power of Christ’s birthplace to promote devotion to the faith tradition that would rise up in the Savior’s name. Today it is with a heavy heart that many Catholics will acknowledge the obvious - the Hadrians of the world are still at it. The on-going prejudice against Christianity becomes routinely evident every Christmas as Chris­tian symbols of the birth of Christ – the REASON for the celebration of CHRISTMAS – are banned from every public arena. It would seem, as a group, we are part of the problem because our worship and devotion is so often lukewarm, and because we have mis­takenly bought into the novelty of the season as promoted by merchandis­ers and marketers. Perhaps it would be inspiring for us, as Catholics, to read again the story of St. Francis and the crèche as written by St. Bonaventure: “It happened in the third year before his death, that in order to excite the inhabitants of Grecio to commemo­rate the nativity of the Infant Jesus with great devotion, [St. Francis] determined to keep it with all pos­sible solemnity; and lest he should be accused of lightness or novelty, he asked and obtained the permis­sion of the sovereign Pontiff. Then he prepared a manger, and brought hay, and an ox and an ass to the place appointed. The brethren were sum­moned, the people ran together, the forest resounded with their voices, and that venerable night was made glorious by many and brilliant lights and sonorous psalms of praise. The man of God [St. Francis] stood before the manger, full of devotion and pi­ety, bathed in tears and radiant with joy; the Holy Gospel was chanted by Francis, the Levite of Christ. Then he preached to the people around the nativity of the poor King; and being unable to utter his name for the ten­derness of his love, he called him the Babe of Bethlehem.” It is always the time for Catholics to take on the attitude of St. Francis who created the Christmas manger to “excite the inhabitants . . . to com­memorate the nativity of the Infant Jesus with great devotion.” But perhaps now is the time for Catholics to come together with a visible expression of their uncommon love for Christ and the Holy Family by putting a manger in public view on their own property to express de­votion to our God and our faith. Bring the Babe of Bethlehem home this Christmas — to your hearth and your heart!   “Take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ’s birth in an­cient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives. Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so com­mon and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.” Edward Hays