A Magi Meditation

Yes, it's a bit early for chat about Ephiphany, the Twelfth Day...but Evelyn Waugh's prayer to the Kings is worth repeating in preparation, as well as in celebration of their day:

"Like me," she said to [the Magi], "you were late in coming.... You are my especial patrons," said Helena, "and patrons of all late-comers, of all who have a tedious journey to make to the truth, of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation, of all who through politeness make themselves partners in guilt, of all who stand in danger by reason of their talents.... For His sake who did not reject your curious gifts, pray always for the learned, the oblique, the delicate. Let them not be quite forgotten at the Throne of God when the simple come into their kingdom."

More Waugh--on far less serious topics (mostly):

[On] politics, which Waugh loathed: "I have never voted in a parliamentary election.... I do not aspire to advise my Sovereign in her choice of servants";

(2) modern art: "Perhaps in the Providence of God the unqualified hideosity of Modern Art has been sent us to scourge us";

(3) psychology: "Voodoo, bog-magic, the wise woman's cabin -- there isn't such a thing as psychology ... the whole thing's a fraud";

(4) socialism: "[Marxism is] the new opium of the people [and] the ideal of a classless society is so unnatural to man that his reason, in practice, cannot bear the strain";

(5) the sexual revolution: "Responsible people -- doctors, psychologists, novelists -- write in the papers and say, 'You cannot be happy unless your sex life is happy.' That seems to me just about as sensible as saying, 'You cannot lead a happy life unless your golf life is happy.' It is not only nonsense, it is mischievous nonsense";

(6) the health and dieting craze: "Food can and should be a source of delight. As for 'nutrition,' that is all balls";

(7) liturgical reform: "'Participation' in the Mass does not mean hearing our own voices. It means God hearing our voices."

All stolen from Blosser's Homepage. If you read the linked article, there's a LOT more, especially on the definition of "snob," which Waugh may have been--but maybe not.