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PDF versionRome is burning, new texts are fiddling
by Eugene Cullen Kennedy on Dec. 01, 2011
I must credit my wife for the best observation I heard as we drifted out of Mass among other grumbling survivors of the wreckage of the most over-ballyhooed maiden voyage since that of the Titanic a century ago. Rome, as she observed, is indeed burning, and the pope, surely winking like a German paterfamilias aware that he isn't fooling anybody in his Santa Claus suit, boasts that the Catholic church is leading the way in the war against sex abuse.
One regretfully concludes of the introduction of the new liturgical texts that we must look beneath the surface of this much ado about nothing episode for the real reasons for all the time and treasure Rome invested in imposing it on its bishops, priests and people.
Perhaps this is best understood as another element in the so-called reform of the reform, the main thrust of which is to restore the mixed blessings at best of a revived clericalism that raises the priesthood like a gilded monstrance above the heads of, and surely out of the reach of, laypeople. This return to hollow and brittle wordings that supposedly echo the pre-Vatican II Latin texts is another clumsy effort to repeal the rich theological documents of that epochal council and to recreate the lost and gone world of Vatican I.
An old vaudeville song suggests that when the performers lack any substantial material they should "bead and feather" the audience, that is, divert them with clamor and tricks so that they won't notice the show's lack of content. Our pastor here in Naples, Fla., did just that in a pre-Mass pep talk in which he stressed -- and nobody could make this up -- the burden, far greater than that borne by the parishioners, that the changes have placed on the shoulders of priests.
"It only affects 14 percent of what you say," he insisted, downing a self-pity pill, "but 98 percent of what the priest says."
What neither this pastor nor Roman officials grasp is that their people, many of whom are at least as theologically sophisticated as they, have long ago been scotch-guarded against the windy precipitation of such interventions. "Practiced Catholics," as I term them, can easily sift the chaff
from the wheat in church documents, sermons and the restoration of antiquated practices and forms. Their faith is deeper than the superficial patter of unprepared sermons or ill-thought-out liturgical translations. They may be annoyed, but they are not touched by distracting clerical maneuvers. They are instinctively Catholic in their whole beings and understand that such switches in the name of increased piety were condemned by Jesus as the pretentious "lengthening of their phylacteries" and other liturgical garb by the religious leaders of his time.
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Good Catholic people have learned to accept and tolerate a great deal of sleight of hand on the part of the clerical class. So they seemed, with brief asides about its insignificance and it unjustified expense, to absorb this supposedly new translation as largely irrelevant to them and to the greater world around them. These changed words screech like the fiddles being played so loudly by its officials while Rome crackles with the still unextinguished fires of the sex abuse scandal and its still not fully investigated source.
As long as churchmen offer beads and feathers along with bread and circuses, practiced Catholics will experience the new texts more as a form of abuse than a form of inspiration.
An eloquent
An eloquent statement:
Vatican re-issues Ratzinger defence of Magisterium on divorce
1 December 2011
L'Osservatore Romano has published a "little known text" written 13 years ago by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in which the future Pope defends the Roman Magisterium's refusal to give communion to divorced and remarried Catholics as being "grounded in truth" and criticises the "more liberal praxis" of the Orthodox Churches as being at odds with the words of Christ.
The Vatican paper filled the central pages of its Wednesday edition with a 3,700-word extract of the 1998 essay and made it available in six languages on its website. Titled, "The pastoral approach to marriage should be founded on truth", the essay seeks to refute criticisms of Rome's policy on divorce and remarriage. The future pope, then head of the Vatican's doctrinal office, writes: "The teaching of the [Catholic] Church on the indissolubility of marriage is faithful to the words of Jesus." But he says the "increasingly liberal" practice of the Orthodox Churches to allow for divorce and remarriage was based on "several obscure patristic texts that were influenced by civil law". Their practice, he says, therefore became "more and more removed from the words of the Lord". Even if the Council of Trent never condemned the Orthodox practice outright, "the medieval canonists, however, consistently spoke of the praxis as improper", he writes. (The Tablet)
What's this have to do with
What's this have to do with the article?
Try to think about the
Try to think about the mantra: "Back to Trent". And then find that even Trent didn't go so far. And that is an injustice to many. I know, for instance, about a very Catholic politician, who had a very traditional wife, rich and mean; when he, after many interior struggles, decided that she could not to live with her any more and had found the love of his life, she asked her for an annulment, but she refused; that split the family: from the two sons, the elder decided to leave with his father. Do you find it Christian to deny him the communion, or to many thousands like him? Right now, a movement is growing in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands that move exactly in the oppposite and so much more compassionate way. Rome is in fact burning, but not with the Love of Christ's Passion.
The comment had more to do
The comment had more to do with the blog than you think. The commentator's statement pointed out a glaring curial contradictory thrust. On the one hand the restorationist language foisted on us is being touted as more sacred, poetic, liturgical language true to its roots. On the other hand the language was cited, though more true to the original, was detrimental. Everything should not be absorbed literally.
Another nail hit squarely on
Another nail hit squarely on the head, Eugene. I SO relate to your comment about
"practiced Catholics" having been long ago "scotch-guarded" against the windy precipitations of (a lot of things.) And, when you write that, "They may be annoyed, but they are not touched by distracting clerical maneuvers," you have described this old lady to a perfect "T." Thanks.
"but they are not touched by
"but they are not touched by distracting clerical maneuvers'
However the bishops who banned the cup and 'what's his name'who said no holding or lifting hands at the Pater Nostra must think these distractions are good stuff.I say More, More, More,until everyone leaves.. I suggest ringing the church tower bells at the consecration.. i'll be back for more ideas..
Let me join this line,
Let me join this line, happily and immediately! Patricia
Thanks again, Eugene for you
Thanks again, Eugene for you thoughtful and insightful critique of the silly machinations of the hierarchy. While I no longer participate in RC liturgies,
I have heard from some family and friends about their consternation with this
latest venture.
CURIA RESTORATION, PART 9
CURIA RESTORATION, PART 9 ............. Thanks, Gene, for more wisdom. The new linguistic medievalization of the Mass liturgy is just another step in the curia's restoration of Constantine's coercive imperial Church. John XXIII tried nobly in the early 1960's to return the Church to the early consensual basis Jesus and his disciples left behind. Blessedly, the international rule of law is scaling the Vatican walls faster than the curia can fortify them.
For more discussion, please see the NCR comment and related cross links under the comment heading, "Annoyed/Resigned, Why?" , accessible by clicking on at:
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/chicago-parish-some-annoyed-others-...
You obviously actually never
You obviously actually never read anything by John XXIII. Try his autobiography for starters, you might be (un)pleasantly surprised....
Ha Ha right on the button.
Ha Ha right on the button. John XXIII didn't want to throw baby out with bath water. He was also a good Pope - almost as good as Papa Benedetto XVI
Gerard and Derek, I find your
Gerard and Derek,
I find your comments as intelligent as they are hateful. You are completely avoiding the sexual fiasco that that JP II and Benedict refused to fully face. That John XXIII was saintly is not denied, but the last 2 popes have a lot to explain in their avoidance of the sexual and other scandals and have trouble filling the shoes of any fisherman. The misogyny of JP II and Benedict would be particularly scandalous even without their other incidences of very poor leadership. They have broken this church into many pieces and it remains to be seen how those pieces will be repositioned.
This was a very well worded article by Gene and I hope he has been a blessing to those seeking truth.
R. Dennis Porch, MD
"Physician, heal thyself."
"Physician, heal thyself." Perhaps you need to follow your own advice but this time (you intimate you've already read the autobiography) don't only read the parts you like.
Gentlepeople, My rage
Gentlepeople,
My rage directed not at this ridiculous attempt to track the Latin; a language whose only connection to Jesus Christ is that it was the language spoken by His executioners; but rather at the idea that this is the trivia occupying the hierarchy during this period of crisis in our church. Right on Gene Kennedy, maybe it's best if Rome burns down and we start over.
Phil Megna
Rage? Take a chill pill.
Rage?
Take a chill pill.
They could be spending their
They could be spending their time dealing with the anti-priest and anti-Church LI Chapter of the Voice of the Faithless!
Speaking for myself only, I
Speaking for myself only, I have never accepted or tolerated but rather ignored the sleight of hands of the clerics. I admit it took a while to get there, but as one matures and educates oneself it isn't all that difficult. I will continue to say "one in being with the father" instead of "consubstantial", just like I have for many years been praying the Lord's Prayer using the word "your" rather than "thy". When I read Martin Buber's book "I and Thou" and learned that the German title of this book was "Ich und Du", a light went on for me, since my first language was a dialect of German. "Du" is the most intimate form of the singular "you"....it is only used in the most intimate of relationships and if you addressed some stranger as "du" you would be considered a rube and most disrespectful. When I realized that I could address God as "du" a light went on. Just by addressing God as "du", my own disposition towards God became more intimate and familiar. God finally became accessible to me. I would love nothing more than to see the Liturgy translated into my German dialect. I would even settle for the Pope's Bavarian dialect, which I believe was his first language. Yes, I do come from the peasant class. But then, Jesus spoke Aramaic which I believe must be the language of the people not of the academic clerics. The translation of the Missal was really much ado about nothing !!!
I think "du" is rooted in
I think "du" is rooted in German, but evolved in Middle English to "thou." Likewise, "you" also has roots in the Germanic "yuz" which evolved into the Middle English "you." In Spanish, "tu" is used when informally or lovingly addressing children, equals, inferiors or God. "Usted" is the formal second person pronoun. In present-day usage, the Quakers offer us a practical example, addressing intimate and loved ones with the "thou, thee, thine" form, and non-family members and non-Quakers as "you." Confusing though it may be, addressing God and Mary with the "thee, thou, thine" form is intimate (Spanish "tu"). "You" (Spanish "usted") is for everybody else.
tu hermano en Cristo,
Paz y Bien, Rolando, SFO.
My dog is "one in being with
My dog is "one in being with the Father", so is my plant, my neighbor, and my doctor. Consubstantial is reserved to Christ Jesus alone and is the perfect word for this prayer.
Actually, "thou/thy" in
Actually, "thou/thy" in English, though it sounds formal to our ears today, was originally opposite in connotation. As J.M. Pressley, editor of the Shakespeare Resource Center, puts it, "'Thou' implied intimacy; 'you' implied a polite reserve." A full explanation can be found here: http://www.bardweb.net/content/thou.html The wikipedia page for 'thou' is also quite informative.
This is so ridiculous. So now
This is so ridiculous. So now the words, *words,* are abusing us, no matter if it's a good translation or not? Relax, loosen up. Get over it.
Getting over it is just what
Getting over it is just what the hierarchy is counting on, that Catholics will continue to be sheep and be led around by these power brokers with collars. As others have pointed out, the translation process was hijacked by the Vatican and still the bishops caved in, as they expect us to do as well. It's not only about the awkward words and syntax as about the Vatican exerting its muscle and attempting to divert the attention of the people in the pews - who pay for all of this - from their ongoing errors. And I don't think the dissatisfaction with the translation will evaporate.
I think the language may have
I think the language may have a bit to do with enculturating children as well as anything else. When Catholic children sit through years of this kind of stilted formalized language which elevates the priest to Jesus's level, they will be far more predisposed to supporting the triumphalism of the current church. They will find it much more difficult to deal with the cognitive dissonance this will all engender later in life.
How right you are about
How right you are about "cognitive dissonance."
When the time comes to choose between hierarchal nonsense and the complex reality of being human ... look for the church to flunk "Reality 101" at Life University.
Kids that "sit through years
Kids that "sit through years of this kind of stilted language" are exactly the kind of kids that'll walk - to find meaningful language - as soon as they have the opportunity. When their ears & hearts can open to an effect of truly vernacular prayer they'll no longer "sit through."
My sentiments exactly. I
My sentiments exactly. I hope bishops and clergy read this.
Marianne, evidently you've
Marianne, evidently you've never heard of "verbal abuse".
'Sorry, some of us will never "get over it" just as some people never got over a reform liturgy.
I will think of this good
I will think of this good advice next time I hear the priest say "many" at the consecration. Our prayer is supposed to express our faith. So, clearly, Catholics believe that Jesus did not die for us all.
All are redeemed. Not all
All are redeemed. Not all will likely be saved. Salvation can be lost.
I am not a fan of the new
I am not a fan of the new translation. I think it is sometimes stilted and also that the previous translation captured the poetic rhythm of the Latin better than this translation - HOWEVER - I emphatically don't think a return to Latin is a better solution! I also liked confessing that I have sinned through "my own fault," not through the fault of society or my parents. Since I tend to lean toward scrupulosity, I find "greatly sinned" can be an invitation to negative self-obsession. However, I have to remember that this is a liturgy for everyone, not just for me. Certainly there are others who tend to deny responsibility for personal faults for whom "greatly sinned" may be the right wake-up call.
I believe I will get used to this new translation and even come to have some warm feelings about it as I repeat it week after week together with my fellow parishoners. I am a convert, and the previous English liturgy was the translation that became dear to me over the last three decades. I have been speaking to people in my parish who grew up with the Latin mass and have come to realize that I am now experiencing the same discomfort that many of them experienced when the English translation was first introduced.
Thanks to Eugene Kennedy for
Thanks to Eugene Kennedy for an excellent column. All I can add is "Bullseye!"
I think this is right. We in
I think this is right. We in the pews will not be distracted by the new translation; we will absorb it, and go right on doing as our master told us to do: feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned, comforting the dying, and joining together to worship and to share God's mercy. The good and faithful priests among us will do that, too.
The same Sunday the new
The same Sunday the new Missal was official, the bishop of the diocese issued a seven bullet doc telling us when to stand, sit and kneel during the Mass because some "unorthodox" situations have crept into the Mass. These seven points, said the bishop's official note, will bring about uniformity, "which is the focal point of community"! (What?) The pastor read this document to us and then added, "well, you have heard from headquarters and we all know what thay means." What DOES it mean? Have the parish clocks been rolled back top 1950?
For someone to believe that
For someone to believe that "uniformity" is the goal is remarkably foolish, given the vast, unmistakable diversity that God created in us.
Professor Kennedy, Your words
Professor Kennedy,
Your words comforted me. Thank you. Because of you and your words, I know I am not crazy and am still a woman of faith. I want you to know that your words have comforted me since the "YOU" newsletter you published years ago. I also attended your talks at Princeton. When you left, I knew the writing was on the wall for me because your words and presence touched my heart and soul.
There are fewer and fewer of us left...
I thank God for you and for the NCR. I certainly don't receive inspiration or support from the pulpit. Please continue as long as your health will allow.
It saddens me that you are
It saddens me that you are comforted by hate.
Dan, be careful of the
Dan, be careful of the projections you make. Seems like the saying of childhood, "takes one to know one," is appropriate to your comment!
No, Dr. Porch. I do not
No, Dr. Porch. I do not hate. I really am sad. I have such joy in the poetic beauty of the new translation. Its English may be awkward in places, but most poetry is grammatically awkward. It is suppose to be. Therein lies its power to make you stop and think and change. It throws you off balance. Of course, most of the time we just ignore it, but we have always done that.
Dear Evangelical Dan, Just
Dear Evangelical Dan,
Just try to have a psychological profile of BXVI: do you know about any other big thinker/theologian who has changed, from night to day, all is thought, just because some young students in 1968 disturbed its classes? Can you imagine an Aristotle, a Plato or a St. Thomas to change all their thinking system just because a wasp entered the room? Thus is really, and disturbing, truly sick.
In other words, you're still
In other words, you're still upset because the Church and her leaders don't think like you or buy their truth from you.
It happened to St Augustine.
It happened to St Augustine. So what's your point?
St. Augustine, the same who
St. Augustine, the same who assured that he would convert, but asked for some more time to indulge in carnal pleasures? I was only mentioning true great thinkers, and he is not one of them.
Poetic beauty? How
Poetic beauty? How embarrassing.
You give an explanation to
You give an explanation to your response to the changes in the Mass. But, I am still trying to understand how you saw hate in the post to which you were replying and was able to bring that accusation forward. I don't see it at all. That is what really needs to be explained.
I find Mr. Kennedy's
I find Mr. Kennedy's "Bulletins" often filled with snark, bitterness, and hateful language. This one is no exception. I merely commented that it saddened me that the post above found comfort in snark, bitterness, and hateful language.
I'm very concerned about hate
I'm very concerned about hate being promoted whether it comes from the Right or the Left, but I can't say I see the hate where you seem to see it. Yet, my not seeing it does not mean that it is not there any more than your seeing means it is.
Hate can be very tricky, as there are ways it manifasts itself that cannot always be easily identified. To give an example, I remember when anyone had any passion against Bush, by some, they were always called haters, whether they were or not. And it was always a reflection on those who hate. But it seems that with all of the hate towards Obama, so many of these very same people seem to think it is not a relfection on those who hate, rather it is now an indication on how "hateworthy" Obama is. That so many buy into this kind of 180% reverse thinking is very troubling. How easily the standards change depending on what side of the political divive someone is on.
I defy anyone to correctly
I defy anyone to correctly diagram the second sentence of Advent Preface I (9 lines long)!
You know full well that a
You know full well that a run-on sentence cannot accurately be diagrammed. Period.
The wording at the
The wording at the consecration still has me baffled. Is it for all or for many? I don't have to say it but it leaves me very uncomfortable to now hear “many.” I can say amen to all. The many speaks to me of some sort of excluding. But I note in my old missal it was indeed translated as “for many.” But those were the days when some of my catholic friends understood only Catholics were going to heaven. In our family this was not accepted.
Saying I have greatly sinned makes me feel I am boosting. I looked up in my old missal as well and it is translated as I have sinned exceedingly but then there was always the race to bottom of how sinful we were. I thought the best part of Vatican II was throwing that ostentatious self deprecation out.
"For Many" is how the Vatican
"For Many" is how the Vatican has been run and the neo-retro movement likes it. Look at the recent bringing back of 'Catholicism is the only right religion', the extreme exclusion of the LGBTQ community, the demotion of women, anyone who is not a "orthodox" Catholic. They have their rule book (CCC) which they cling to, you either check the list completely or you are not one of the "many". Abp Nienstedt of St Paul/Minneapolis wrote earlier in the year that to be Catholic you have to be "100% Catholic", which in his words meant follow him and Rome 100% or you are not worthy to call yourself Catholic, it was extremely exclusionary.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-10-20-catholic19_ST_N.htm
And now he leads the USCCB Committee on Doctrine.
You will note that in the
You will note that in the Mark and Matthew Gospels, Our Lord Himself says "for many" (pollwn, in the inspired text).
I also hope you will appreciate that "greatly sinned" (and much more) now puts English speaking Catholics more in accord with Catholics of other languages in the way we pray, and by extension believe- lex orandi, lex credendi. Be contrite of heart and trust in God's mercy just like you would be during Confession, after all, salvation from our sins is above all the goal of our faith.
Adelaide, When I was at
Adelaide,
When I was at Chicago Theological Union, a professor taught that in the Bible it would be best translated "for the many." "The many" being an idiom which indicates 'the many nations'--in other words, "for all." To say "many" is not being accurate to the idiom. In the Greek there is not the equivilant of "the"--it is the meaning of the Greek (with its historical implications of the time) that needs to be understood for the best interpretation. I hope this helps. I, too, feel strongly that when I say "amen" I should want it to be (amen=so be it).
This is well said. With so
This is well said. With so many problems in the Church I think changing the language in the mass was a deliberate attempt to distract from the real problems of the priest shortage, the large number of Catholics who have left the faith or stopped practicing, the sex abuse scandal, attitudes toward sexuality and modern medicine that parallel the attitude toward astronomy back in Galileo's time. The Church is turning backwards, trying to create a time that simply does not exist any more. Or, are the hierarchy really as blind as they seem to be?
I made the comment elsewhere
I made the comment elsewhere that Jesus has been made a pawn of the clericalism that dominates and drives the leadership of this institution. He would be as welcome at the vatican as a woman seeking admission to holy orders (or delivering a petition to that effect). As with, seemingly, the Republican leadership debates in the USA, where the right wing political rapturists mistake the rabid fellowship for rightousness, the hierarchical domination and screw-tigntening down to the parish level also relish in the fervour, at times rabid,of the diminishing pietistic (and depend on their wallets). Like W.Coyote, they have mistaken the brilliant light in the tunnel as their escape, rather than recognizing it as an oncoming train.
But Kennedy, I think, is correct. We are watching the wailing death throes of the institution as we have known it. The "people", we sheep, are no longer blind. We "sheep" know full well that the "shepherd" is nurturing us for the table of the master by trying to convince us that compliance is for our own good.
I couldn't help but be amused
I couldn't help but be amused at the interchange between Lore H. & Rolando Rodriguez about the pronouns for God being "du" or "thou" or "you." Rodriguez may very well be correct about "thou" conveying a sense of intimacy among the Quakers and Spanish-speakers.
However, I believe Lore's point was that for English-speakers, "thou" is a highly stilted form, and not likely to engender a feeling of "closeness" to the person addressed on the part of the speaker.
In Spanish or among the quakers, "thou" may traditionally express a feeling of closeness. In ENGLISH -- "thou" does not have the same feeling! "YOU," however, does have the feeling of closeness!
We thought that use of the vernacular was supposed to give greater meaning to our prayers. Boy, were we wrong!
Try this: Our Father who is
Try this:
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done...
Been saying it that way for
Been saying it that way for years...especially out loud this past Sunday while sitting next to a nun.
ah...remember the little boy
ah...remember the little boy who began saying..."aren't' in heaven"...
when his mother told him 'it is "is in heaven"...then her son looked
at her, shock his head and said, "sister said God is everywhere, so he
is NOT just in heaven"..ummm,out of the mouths children ,,,an awesome
perception.....reminds me of Fr. James Martin,sj's new book.."Between
Heaven and Mirth".....smile.....dncrowley
anthropologists and
anthropologists and sociologists of religion generally agree that religious language is archaic . it is certainly not the language of ordinary discourse . I might better have said official or liturgical language . the language of personal or private prayer might be quite different.
among those concerned about the 1970 ' translations was mary douglas . her worry was about the blandness of the translation: she feared it would lead to devaluation of the mass as worship.
whether the recent translation works well or not time will tell . that it makes sense to try to make the english mass translation more consistent with the latin is to me clear.
I was on an ivy league campus in the 70s when the the english text was introduced . the people in the humanities largely hated it . they thought it a disgrace that a church which was producing important authors would come up with such a graceless text . they would have preferred that catholic poets , novelists and scholars would have produced it .
the others found it disappointing . we all came to live with it . using the recent translation does make me aware again of what a poor job was done on the one we have just put aside .
all in all I think the current translation is worth about a B or B-. but better than the last .
The seething hate expressed
The seething hate expressed in the revised translation is really just a beard for anyone that hates the Church and has a burning need to find fault in all things no matter the facts.
Excellent column Eurgene
Excellent column Eurgene Kennedy......
A Question. What language does the Missal print in Italy? Considering the relevance of "Church" in the lives of people in Italy, why oh why doesn't the Pope and the Group focus on the situation right outside their doors? There is a certain degree of insanity with what has been happening - and it surely will not revitalize something that needs more.
It is so sad thinking about the horrendous happenings in the global economic situations and the political scenarios in so many countries. So the Church has a focus on changing words - something is very wrong.
What the hell is dewfall ???
What the hell is dewfall ???
It's the plural of dewfus!
It's the plural of dewfus!
http://www.merriam-webster.co
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dewfall
What is dewfall? Sheer
What is dewfall? Sheer ignorance: dew forms when an object -- a plant leaf, for example -- loses its heat, usually early morning or late afternoon. In that case and in the presence of atmospheric moisture, condensation overcomes evaporation and water droplets form on the surface. Just one more bit of evidence that the translators of this abomination are dumber'n a sack of hammers, and worse: don't care because they know no one can touch them. Burn, Rome! Fiddle, fools!
There is in you no poetry.
There is in you no poetry. How antiseptic and stark your world must be.
No, I taught English at
No, I taught English at University for fourteen years and consider my world of books, chess, good wine, fireplace, cooking, friends, etc., more than merely rich. So much for sterile. While young poets are to be encouraged, sometimes the kindest act for a budding writer is to criticize thoughtfully when the writer's purple passions overflow. "Dewfall," is one such attempt, but from a source which should have know better, especially when one suspects the writer(s) weren't native speakers of English and wouldn't have committed such a gaffe had their language skills been more agile.
"Dewfall" is Biblical...like
"Dewfall" is Biblical...like the liturgy. It references language from a pre-scientific age. The Church did not make this one up.
Dewfall is deeply nourishing.
Dewfall is deeply nourishing. I have a cabin in the Ozarks and experiencing the dew in early morning is nearly mystical. Sometimes the sky is blue above while at tree-top all is enveloped in this very damp cloud. Good word to describe how God cares for us.
Dewfall is the opposite of
Dewfall is the opposite of Dontfall.
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