Love feast

“ The virtues and graces of the bride-soul, the grandeur and magnificence of the Bridegroom, the Son of God, come forth into the light, for the celebration of the bridal feast, communicating each to the other the goods and joys with the wine of sweet love in the Holy Spirit. ”

“ Let me beseech you, dear friends—and you especially who are strangers to this place and to my voice—to do what I cannot, and would not if I could, lay these thoughts on your own hearts, and ask yourselves, 'Is it I?'
And then before I pass from this point of my discourse, remember that the contrariety between these duties and the acceptance of the offered feast existed only in the imagination of the men that made them. There is no reason why you should not go to the feast and see after your field. There is no reason why you should not love your wife and go to the feast. ”

“ Meanwhile there was a growing approximation to pagan ritual in the ceremonials of the Church and the feelings of awe with which they were approached. The homely love feast, at which rich and poor sit down to a common meal side by side, while they commemorate their Lord's death by eating and drinking some of the bread and wine or milk provided for it, has given place to a solemn function of miraculous potency. ”

“ The love-feast, which they believe to be patterned after the Supper of the Lord, is a full meal, prepared and placed upon the table used for that purpose in the church, and is partaken by all the members to the satisfying of hunger. ”

“ When invited to a feast you naturally ask who are to be the guests. And being told they are distinguished individuals, you prepare accordingly for the festivity. Putting aside the old garment, you purchase, at whatever price, a new one that is up to date. To-day you have come to a sumptuous feast, to one that for many years has been awaiting you. The guests are distinguished above human title and this feast is a Passover. To sit at this table of their Lord and partake of what divine Love hath prepared for them, Christian Scientists start forward with true ambition. ”

“ The right thing, it seems, would have been that all women from all quarters should have gathered for this day and celebrated your birth-feast, first, all the women that love their husbands and love their children and are virtuous, and, secondly, all that are genuine and truthful, and the third company to keep the feast should have been the kind-hearted, and the affable and the accessible and the humble-minded ”

“ PERICLES. 'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.
SIMONIDES. Call it by what you will, the day is yours; And here, I hope, is none that envies it. In framing an artist, art hath thus decreed, To make some good, but others to exceed; And you are her labour'd scholar. Come queen of the feast, — For, daughter, so you are, — here take your place: Marshal the rest, as they deserve their grace.
KNIGHTS. We are honour'd much by good Simonides.
SIMONIDES. Your presence glads our days; honour we love; For who hates honour hates the gods above.
MARSHALL. Sir, yonder is your place. ”

“ 130Songs of love and songs of longing,
That the feast may be more joyous,
That the time may pass more gayly,
And our guests be more contented!" ”

“ Marriages, as well as birthday feasts, supplied the orator with vivid allegories. Thus he says that when a marriage feast is made in a house, organs play upon the threshold, and musicians and dancers begin to sing and to act their songs. And yet how poor are these earthly enjoyments which pass away so soon!... "In the House of God, the feast has no end." ”

“ THE WEDDING FEAST
Said the chief of the marriage feast to the groom,
Whence is this blood of the vine?
Men serve at first the best, he said,
And at the last, poor wine.
Said the chief of the marriage feast to the groom,
When the guests have drunk their fill
They drink whatever wine you serve,
Nor know the good from the ill.
How have you kept the good till now
When our hearts nor care nor see?
Said the chief of the marriage feast to the groom,
Whence may this good wine be?
Said the chief of the marriage feast, this wine
Is the best of all by far. ”

“ The Christmas dinners concentrate the scattered members of families, who meet together to break bread in social harmony, and exchange those home sentiments that cement the happiness of kindred. To-day the prodigal once more returns to the paternal roof; the spendthrift forsakes his boon companions; the convivialist deserts the wine-cup. The beautiful genius of domestic love has triumphed, and who can foresee the blessed results? ”

“ My mistress at parting warned me to be particularly watchful of him toward two in the morning. The doctor (in case anything happened) left me a large hand bell to ring, which could easily be heard at the house.
Restored to the society of my fair friend, I spread the supper table. A pâté, a sausage, and a few bottles of generous Moselle wine, composed our simple meal. When persons adore each other, the intoxicating illusion of Love transforms the simplest meal into a banquet. ”

“ So this parable dismisses all ideas of work, duty, service, requirement, and instead gives the emblem of a marriage feast as the picture of the kingdom. It therein unites two familiar prophetic images for the Messianic times—those of a festival and of a marriage. As Luther says, 'He calls it a marriage feast, not a time of toil or a time of sorrow, but a time of holiday and a time of joy; in which we make ourselves fine, sing, play, dance, eat, drink, are glad, and have a good time; else it would not be a wedding feast, if people were to be working, mourning, or crying. ”

“ Preparations were now in the course of being made for an entertainment in honour of the approaching marriage; and these appeared to be on a pretty extensive scale; for as the bride was a relation of the family, they were naturally anxious to celebrate the occasion in a becoming style. An ample feast, consisting of tea, sweetmeats, wine, Rosolio, chicken, fish, and porter, was accordingly laid out for the visitors, and, on their arrival at the proper time, had all due honours done to it. Some professional musicians had also been engaged for the amusement of the marriage guests. ”

“ So I returned to the table on which was still set out the mockery of our Valentine feast, strangely disenchanted in the chill dusk of daybreak. I put a handful of wine biscuits and a broken piece of cake in my pocket; for a determination had taken me to go out on to the heath. My heart beat thick and fast in imagination of the solitary snow and of myself wandering in loneliness across its untrampled surface. ”

“ Thanks be to Thee, O Creator and Redeemer of men, who to make known Thy love to the whole world has prepared a great supper, in which Thou hast set forth for good not the typical lamb, but Thine own most Holy Body and Blood; making all Thy faithful ones joyful with this holy banquet and giving them to drink the cup of salvation, wherein are all the delights of Paradise, and the holy Angels do feed with us, and with yet happier sweetness. ”

“ The guests broke in upon him with meeting hands
And cries about the banquet—'Beautiful!
Who could desire more beauty at a feast?'
The lover answer'd, 'There is more than one
Here sitting who desires it. ”

“ One is that you think old Mother Goose is a good friend of yours, and loves you all very much. And you're quite right about that, for I declare, I love every one of you as much as I love—plum pudding. And the second reason why you are all smiling, I guess, is because you think I am going to show you a Christmas Play. And you're right about that, too. I have a play all ready for you, there behind the curtain, and the name of it is "The Christmas Dinner." ”

“ Now when his brother-in-law learned that Lumawig desired a feast at his wedding, he was very angry and said:
“Where would you get food for your wedding feast? There is no rice, nor beef, nor pork, nor chicken.” ”

“ The women are for the most part elderly persons, and composed of sisters, aunts, and the like. This exception is made on an occasion like this. The bride and bridegroom are requested to keep a jathee, scissors, with them until the marriage ceremony is over. The relatives and other friends send valuable gifts, and entertain them in their houses. This mode of entertainment is called “the bachelor and maiden feasts.” The evening previous to the wedding is celebrated the feast of “joy cakes.” These cakes are made of cocoa-nuts, sugar, and rice-powder, and are cooked with much ceremony. ”

“ At the head sits an old man called the elder, who begins the meal by saying grace, after which each one in turn gets up and, lifting the right hand, says in a solemn voice, "God is love." The dinner is eaten in perfect silence. Not a voice is heard until the meal comes to an end. Then the men and women rise and sing, standing in their places at the table. ”

“ They usually dance either before or after every meal; and by this cheerfulness probably render the Great Spirit, to whom they consider themselves as indebted for every good, a more acceptable sacrifice than a formal and unanimated thanksgiving. The men and women feast apart: and each sex invite by turns their companions to partake with them of the food they happen to have; but in their domestic way of living the men and women eat together. ”

“ If we come to his feasts in this temper, my brethren, it matters comparatively little what our outward acts of rejoicing may be. If our hearts are right towards the Lord of the feast and to one another, our dress and actions are surely right also, or will soon become so. ”

“ And low is the hum of the humble bees, And the Feast of the Virgins is now to be. THE FEAST OF THE VIRGINS. The sun sails high in his azure realms; Beneath the arch of the breezy elms The feast is spread by the murmuring river. With his battle spear and his bow and quiver, And eagle plumes in his ebon hair, The chief Wakâwa himself is there; And round the feast in the Sacred Ring, 48 Sit his weaponed warriors witnessing. Not a morsel of food have the Virgins tasted For three long days ere the holy feast; They sat in their teepee alone and fasted, Their faces turned to the Sacred East. ”

“ For a wedding feast there is a reasonable cause, just as there is for a funeral luncheon, or a christening dinner. There has been in each instance a trying ordeal to be gone through in a public church. It is quite right that there should be eating and drinking, and a certain amount of jollification afterwards amongst the unoffending guests who have been dragged in as spectators on the occasion. ”

“ Go, all manner of convocations, and do likewise.
Note, if you please, that it is not feasting which is objectionable. Truly or falsely, eating has always been held to be the promoter and attendant of conviviality, the mouth opening the way at the same time to the palate and the brain. If men can provide feasts without laying burdens upon their wives, let them do it and welcome; but if the material part of the feast cannot be accomplished without so serious an increase of a wife’s labor as to destroy or diminish her capacity for enjoying the mental part, it ought not to be attempted. ”

“ After this ceremony they feasted upon all the offerings and presents of food, drinking the wine after their custom, as usual, until they had consumed it all. This was their feast of the new year, and the solemnity with which they believed themselves to render it perfectly agreeable to their idols. During the month Pop, there were also some of the most devout men who continued to celebrate this feast with their friends, such as the nobles and priests, they being, before others, always the first in the rejoicings and festivities. ”

“ You reach the family-hearth. One of the servants takes your horse to the stable, another hangs your valise before the fire to dry it. The mistress of the house, while dinner is being prepared, offers you a glass of brandy, or of beer prepared expressly for Christmas, and called JULÆL. The young women bring you cakes prepared by themselves. Your hands are shaken cordially, presents are made, it matters not whether trifling or rich, they are Christmas remembrances and a pledge of love. ”

“ Take good heed not to come to the feast of the Holy Cross, which is a million times fuller of exquisite pleasures than any wedding feast, without having on the white robe, spotless, and pure from all intentions save that of pleasing the Lamb. ”

“ At Easter the sposo gives a cake and a couple of bottles of Cyprus or 100 Malaga; at Christmas a box of almond sweetmeats and a little jug of mostarda (a Venetian spécialité composed of quinces dressed in honey and mustard) ; at the feast of St Martin, sweet chestnuts; at the feast of St Mark, el bocolo—that is, a rosebud, emblematical of the opening year. The lover may also employ his generosity on New Year's day, on the girl's name-day, and on other days not specified, taking in the whole 365. Some maidens show a decided taste for homage in kind. ”

“ The simple understanding of festivity is an engagement feast, or a wedding even without a meal, like how during chol hamo'ed, similar things are forbidden because of festivity {not connected to the festival} as is written in section 546. ”

“ And may I return in the evening and feast at home with my loved one !
1269. To those who count the days and yearn for the return of the beloved who is away, one single day will creep along with the slowness of seven. ”