The holidays wreak havoc on one’s schedule. The regime of one’s day is thrown into disarray. As soon as our holiday started, my memorization of Philippians became a distant thought of the past. Last night on our drive home from Wilmington, however, Mary Beth and Elijah fell asleep, so I decided to refresh, relearn, and add.

When I came across Philippians 1:9-10, I memorized it in about 2 mins because of the consonance (similar sounding consonants) and assonance (similar sounding vowels) therein. Here are verses 9-10:

9 Καὶ τοῦτο προσεύχομαι, ἵνα ἡ ἀγάπη ὑμῶν ἔτι μᾶλλον καὶ μᾶλλον περισσεύῃ ἐν ἐπιγνώσει καὶ πάσῃ αἰσθήσει  10 εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τὰ διαφέροντα, ἵνα ἦτε εἰλικρινεῖς καὶ ἀπρόσκοποι εἰς  ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ

More specifically, I’m referring to this section: περισσεύῃ ἐν ἐπιγνώσει καὶ πάσῃ αἰσθήσει εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν, “perisseuē en epignōsei kai pasē aisthhsei eis  to dokimazein” The repetition of the “s” sound through the use of a σ or ζ creates consonance, while the repetition of the “ei” sound through the use of η or the diphthong ει creates assonance. Whether or not Paul used these literary devices intentionally, the text has sticking power and rolls off the tongue.