“As I went down to the river to pray, studyin’ about that good old way...”

Today the Christian church remembers the Nativity of John the Baptist. In his book The Spirit of the Liturgy, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) reflects on this day in relation to the seasons:

"Between the two dates of March 25 and December 25 comes the feast of the Forerunner, St John the Baptist, on June 24, at the time of the summer solstice. The link between the dates can now be seen as a liturgical and cosmic expression of the Baptist's words: 'He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease' (Jn 3:30). The birthday of St John the Baptist takes place on the date when the days begin to shorten, just as the birthday of Christ takes place when they begin again to lengthen. The fabric of this feast is of an entirely Christian weave, without direct precedent in the Old Testament. However, it stands in continuity with the synthesis of cosmos and history..."

Meanwhile, The Old Farmer's Almanac provides another connection with the feast, in the form of "Midsummer's Day."

I suppose it's by some coincidence, that today was also a day for gathering by the water -- if closer to home.

It seems that the side entrance of my building this morning was the haven for a mother duck and ten ducklings. This little-used foyer was a stopping point headed south on the sidewalks, which by now were becoming quite active. I went up to the office after informing the front desk (expecting the Park Service to send someone to retrieve what amounted to Government property), when my colleague "Melanie" got excited at the prospect of seeing her little brood.

So we went down to where they were, just in time to see Mother Duck on the move. Being disoriented by the attention on the sidewalk, and surrounded by two people taking pictures with their cellphones, Melanie and I proceed to coax the family down the sidewalk, south toward the reflecting pool in the park just south of the building.

But first, we had to cross E Street. The cars were generally cooperative. Getting Mama's trust was the hard part. It got even harder when we got to the curb. We had to get the ducklings up the curb, which was taller than them, and had not been able to convince Mama of our goodwill. So, while Melanie created a distraction by getting Mother to attack her, I picked each of the ducklings onto the sidewalk. The worst being over, Mother went back to her charges to lead them down the final stretch, to the reflecting pool.

And so, with our task completed, and Melanie being none the worst for wear -- which is saying something, because Mama got after me too at one point, and it wasn't pretty -- we returned to our more conventional job.

Ah, just another day at the office!