Sidebar changes and other cool stuff

I added a couple of things to the sidebar over the weekend that you probably haven't noticed, so I'd better crow about them. First is Strange Maps, which (as the name kind of indicates) features a new map every day. Sometimes it's a new perspective on the world, sometimes it's an old map with some interesting frature, but it's always cool beyond belief. I've been tapdancing through their archives, and it's like a happy hunting ground for a cartophile like me.

I also added Hiraeth under "Prods." I don't know if Kim would really want to be on a Papist's blogroll, but the name of the blog was too good to pass up. In Welsh, hiraeth means "longing," in the sense of homesickness, but much more intense. It's a particularly apt Welsh term, because for the last hundred years or so, Wales' primary export has been Welshmen. Hiraeth is also an appropriate word to describe the Christian's longing for his true home. And personally, I'm kind of enjoying her quotation posts. I disagree with Spurgeon on a lot, but his rhetoric is a joy to read anyway. She's also got the wonderful idea of posting a note of thankfulness every day during November. That's something we all should be doing. Prayer should be more thanksgiving than whining about what we haven't got, yet I keep doing exactly that.

That set me off on a search for the words to the hymn "Hiraeth." Yes, there is such a hymn; I used to sing it at the Gymanfa Ganu. I've got it at home, but couldn't find it readily online. However, I did run across the Book of Common Prayer in Welsh, including translations of the morning and evening prayers my Lovely and Brilliant Wife prays in the Liturgy of the Hours every day. The English version is pretty enough, but I'm convinced that God would rather have written the Bible in Welsh, because no other language is beautiful enough to convey His majesty. I'll have to compare the Anglican and Catholic versions of the prayers and see how much is changed.

I also discovered a translation of the Orthodox Divine Liturgy (presumably the Chrysostom liturgy) into Welsh, in both PDF and MP3 formats. I'll download it as soon as I get home and have a listen. I'll bet it's incredible to hear.