An annus mirabilis

Last updated on: August 16, 2010 at 12:53 pm by Dave Griffey

An annus mirabilis 2010-08-16T12:53:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

If I had to struggle through Latin in graduate school, by goodness I’m going to use it. Annus mirabilis means great year. It means year of wonders or year of miracles. Far from religious connotations, I saw a post the other day about the old Atari game of my youth. This was the BB-Gun (and we all know what that means) present for Christmas back in 1980, one of my greatest Annus mirabili. Space Invaders had been released, and I wanted nothing other than Atari and Space Invaders. Santa, being a good elf, fulfilled my request, and I settled down for many hours of saving the world from alien invaders.

That wasn’t all I remembered. Suddenly, I was in eighth grade again – one of the best years of my life – beginning to move from childhood to adulthood. Old toys were sitting, collecting dust with increased frequency as they could no longer hold my interest. Girls were beginning to appear less offensive. Going places with my best friend was more common, and we spent many days hanging out at colleges while his Mom attended classes, toilet papering and soaping windows on a football Friday night on Halloween, snowball fights in a bowling alley parking lot.

And then other great years came to mind. In what felt like hours of reflecting, I remembered my fifth and sixth grade years, my high school Junior year, fall semesters my freshman and junior years at Ohio State. The smells, the sounds, the scenery all became as vivid as the scenes outside my window right now. I also remembered, more vaguely because the memories even now are beginning to fade into the mists of time, pleasant years of my youngest days. But through them all, that year, 1980, will remain large in my list of wondrous years.

That got me to thinking, as I am wont to do, of how a simple picture, or reference, or even smell, can bring back memories like that, and suddenly I’m no longer here, worrying about job and fatherhood, being a good husband or provider (or lack thereof), or the concerns of aging parents, Alzheimer’s, recessions, a fading America, a scandal-ridden Church, or any one of a thousand things that eat away at the child-like joys of yesteryear.

Instead, I’m transported back, and can see the old, blue beanbag chair, the new TV complete with round dials for navigating thirteen channels, feel the plastic cartridge announcing the coveted title of Space Invaders as I push it into the console. It’s quite amazing, the thing called memory. The things that set it off, the things that are special. The things we never really get rid of.

I think of that when I read passages in the New Testament that turn to the original Aramaic. The New Testament is in Greek, of course, though the spoken language of Jesus and his compatriots would have been Aramaic. Nonetheless, on a few occasions, the authors of the Gospels, and Paul himself, recount the Aramaic words of Jesus. He says abba, father. He cries out Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani from the cross, he holds a little girl’s hand and says Talitha kum, and she rises from her own death.

The authors didn’t have to use the original words. They could have translated them into Greek just like the rest of Jesus’ teachings. But they didn’t. Something about remembering him say those things in particular struck a nerve. And they wanted to repeat them, to remember them. They wanted to pass them down to the ages and try, however incompletely, to allow us a brief glimpse into the actual moment when God reached out and gave so much to us sinners.

Like me remembering that year of wonders so long ago, I can’t help but wonder if the Apostles were putting their own nostalgia in, remembering that year way back, when the Messiah walked among us, and the carpenter’s son simply held a child’s hand and said, Talitha kum. That, no doubt, would cause anyone to think that it was, indeed, a very good year.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 16, 2010

Save the Planet, Make the people

Next Post

August 16, 2010 The Mosque at Ground Zero

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who wasted his wealth and ended up feeding pigs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Pharisee The Prodigal Son The Sower The Good Samaritan