Suffering With Joy

Decoding Sacred Art

May 10, 2010

Madonna with Child Clothed in Sunlight, detail, c. 1450-60, tempera on panel, parish church in Przydonica, Poland

Since it’s May, Mary’s month, in her honor I wanted to spread devotion to her through a special painting.  A few years ago I stumbled upon this beautiful work of art and earlier this year traced its origins.  Ever since I first saw it, I was captivated by it and hope others will be,too.

Sacred art has always been a way of teaching the truths of the Faith and this piece, Madonna with Child Clothed in Sunlight, is no exception.  Although I knew much of what the painting said, I lacked an understanding of its total meaning.  Fortunately a kind priest who writes icons and teaches art enlightened me so I can now bring a good and much more complete interpretation of it to you.

Considering the history of Poland and the age of this work, we are very fortunate that it still exists.  My feeling is that it should be made widely known and loved not just as an example of great art, but because of its spiritual significance. That it resides in a small parish church in the diocese of Tarnow, Poland in the town of Przydonica means this treasure is not very accessible to most people.

Great art is timeless.  Its message is ever old and ever new in immutable truth. Painted between 1450-1460 by an unknown artist, this unusual image is obviously the Woman of the Apocalypse clothed in the sun with the moon beneath her feet, but there is a great deal more than that to it.

A painting of tempura on panel, this work is a blend of eastern and western art in the style of icons and of the Italian school of the time which alone makes it noteworthy. Renaissance painting styles came from Italy to France, then to Prague and then to Northern Europe. The use of gold is a technique imported from Italy while the position of Mother and Baby are similar to many icons.

Our Lady stands atop a downward curved crescent moon with a face beneath.  Educated people of the 15^th century knew astronomy and the cycles of the moon.  In the west the “man in the moon” was a common portrayal in art, poetry, and literature because westerners see a man in the moon. (Asians see a rabbit in the moon.)

Whenever Mary is shown with the moon it means she, like the moon, reflects the light of the sun who is the Son of God. Standing above the face depicts her exalted status above all others in the human race.  She is crowned as queen and her damask robe is studded with diadems along the edge, as is the Baby Jesus’s robe, also a sign of royalty.

This painting is unique for many reasons, particularly because it is very rare to find artists showing Our Lady clothed in damask. Damask is a type of woven cloth originating in Damascus, Syria, a crossroads between east and west on the most important route of the old Silk Road.  From the time of the Crusades on, many Catholics made pilgrimages to the Holy Land from all over Europe, including Poland.  Damascus was a safe stop on the journey and from there the fabric was brought back by returning pilgrims to Europe. It was the very costly linen of royalty. Thus, her damask clothing along with her jeweled crown is another sign of the Queenship of Mary.

Mary’s inner robe, which is blue with a golden damask pattern, is an icon symbol of Divinity. Mary is clothed in and by the Divine Trinity. The white outer robe symbolizes creation , purity, Gods divine light, and righteous people who are good, honest, and live by the Truth.

Because of its weave, damask has a quality of iridescence which the painter skillfully reproduced, further creating the analogy of Mary’s luminous splendor of grace.

Jesus wears a red violet robe, a color of royalty and authority and His left hand extends in the direction of Mary and the lily flower, which is a symbol of purity. He appears to be presenting His mother to us by the position of His hands, seeming to say, “See and love My Mother as I love her.  Look to her as I, the child, looked to her.”  Mary’s eyes are humbly lowered in the direction of her Baby, her all-precious Son and her God.

Jesus and Mary are set before a grove of trees with flowers on the ground.  This is a Polish custom in the depiction of Our Lady and also typical of Renaisance paintings with their emphasis on detail of the natural world. It says Mary and Jesus are among and with all creation, walking with us in our daily lives as we go to and fro about our business. The perfection of the Mother and Son does not keep them from being with us far less perfect creatures. Heaven has met earth and the divine is enmeshed in our lives.   The Polish devotion to Our Lady is a key part of their culture and spirituality and Poles have historically portrayed Mary in all aspects of their lives.

From a technical standpoint (art history) the painting shows the style of depth that was practiced in the Renaissance with an attempt to create the illusion of space and perspective while maintaining the italo-byzantine tradition with the gold leaf behind the forest and stylized leaves on the trees and on the plants on the ground.  This manner of painting allows the subjects to stand out in simplicity and splendor with no distraction from the truths they declare.

Green is the color of spring and of hope, of new life and creation, as are the flowers.  Wherever Mary goes with Baby Jesus, she brings hope in the life to come.

The position of Mary holding Jesus is like an icon, but the eyes are not icon eyes which generally are very large.  The heads of Jesus and Mary plus the white lily form a triangle within a circle delineated partially by the lines of the cloak below her hand holding Jesus.  With this we not only observe the rules of great art (the Divine Proportions), we also have the Trinity and the Alpha and Omega.

Prominently placed, the lily declares the perfect chastity of Mary, Virgin and Mother, and because of the inclusion of Jesus, His perfect chastity too. It tells how highly prized and placed chastity is in the order of virtues.

Often artists in the time this was painted did not sign their work and apparently no record exists of who did this one. We can surmise a few things, though.  He very possibly may have been a priest or monk, he knew sacred scripture, theology, and astronomy well, he was a man of prayer or he could not have painted such a richly spiritual work, he had a great love of the Blessed Mother, he had knowledge of damask and its patterns probably from association with royalty and Polish pilgrims to the Holy Land, and most likely he studied art in Italy for a time or was taught by someone who did.  That he was highly skilled is borne out by the simplicity, delicacy and precision with which he executed the work.

Sacred art is a window on the divine.  It should inspire prayer and sentiments of the love of God and heavenly things. For me, this painting is a beautiful subject for meditation, and one I never get tired of.  I hope this will be true for others as well.

If you know someone who loves Our Lady and would enjoy hearing about this painting, please send them a link to this post.  It will help me spread the knowledge of this painting and love of Mary and her Baby to the world.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

May 9, 2010

Welcome to Sunday Snippets, a weekly gathering where Catholic bloggers share their favorite posts of the week.  Hosted by RAnn at This, That and The Other Thing, you’ll find many interesting takes on God, the world, and the Faith.

Today is Mother’s Day, the first one without my earthly mother who passed away March 24th of this year.  While I miss her, I am grateful that God was so merciful to take her quickly, and grateful that I can still celebrate Mother’s Day by thanking God for having given me such a good mother.  Of course, today is also Our Lady’s Mother’s Day, too, and I thank her for the attention she has given me as a child of God.

This week I wrote a post on The Meaning of the Rosary to give an idea of its history and place in Catholic devotion.  Other posts you might find interesting are: The Heart of Personal Holiness which features Bishop Slattery’s magnificent sermon from the celebration of Pope Benedict’s ascension to the chair of Peter; The Asparagus Bean Surprise where I tell about something God did to give me something better than I asked for; and Sabbath Moments where I reflect a little on St. Michael the Archangel’s nobility of spirit.

God bless all my readers.

Tags: Mother's Day

The Meaning of the Rosary

May 7, 2010

Last Sunday RAnn at This, That, and The Other Thing gave her fellow Catholic bloggers a challenge to write a post about the rosary.  Since May is the month of Mary, and the prayer Catholics use to see the mysteries of faith through Mary’s eyes is the rosary, it’s a good time to learn a little more about this special prayer.  I wrote an article some months ago about the history of the rosary that I’d like to share here.

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Still-Life with Symbols of the Virgin Mary, 1672, Dirke de Bray (active 1651-1678 in Haarlem), oil on panel, Amstelkring Museum, Amsterdam

The Rosary, from the Latin “rosarium” meaning “rose garden” or “garland of roses” is one of the most popular non-liturgical devotions in the Catholic Church today.  For at least a millennium before St. Dominic, who is credited with starting the Rosary devotion, Muslims, Buddhists and other non-Christian as well as Christians followed a tradition of counting repetitive prayers on beads or knots, or placing stones in a bowl or pocket to track the number.

Within Judeo-Christian tradition, the practice of reciting the 150 psalms daily transferred from the Old Testament devout Jews to the monks and monasteries of the Catholic Church.  The average person in Europe, however, did not know how to read or write until Guttenberg’s printing press made learning much more widely possible.  As a result, the clergy, who were the best educated for centuries, encouraged the practice of reciting 150 “Our Fathers”, using a string of beads to count them in fifties.  These beads became known as the “PaterNoster” beads. As time went on, a parallel psalter of 150 “Hail Marys” became known as the Marian Psalter. Today most people are educated well enough to pray the official liturgies of the Church, but the Rosary remains a core devotion beyond the liturgy among the faithful.

Unfortunately due to the many religious wars and plagues of the middle ages and early renaissance, a great deal of documentation regarding the rosary and St. Dominic which would have been preserved by monasteries and convents was lost to us through their destruction.  We do know the following:

1. The Hail Mary at the time of St. Dominic consisted only of the first part we recite today from the Gospel of St. Luke 1:28, 42.  The word “Jesus” was not added until the 14th century, and the remainder of the prayer came later.

2. The “Our Father” and the “Glory be” as part of the rosary also came later.

3. The Mysteries of the Rosary were fixed about 250 years after St. Dominic, and were added to by Pope John Paul II in the 2002-2003 Year of the Rosary. [1]

4. A 15th century Dominican named Alan de Rupe, O.P. revived the Rosary devotion 250 years after the time of St. Dominic. He preached the Marian Psalter of 150 Hail Marys and 150 mysteries and divided them into three groups of fifties according to the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries. It was not until the reign of Pope Pius V in 1569 that the fifteen mysteries were officially established.

5. The crucifix and extra beads before starting the mysteries did not come until long after St. Dominic.

St. Dominic of Guzman, 1685, Claudio Coello (b. 1642, Madrid, d. 1693, Madrid), oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

6. St. Dominic founded “The Militia of Jesus Christ” which, according to Dominican records, recited the Marian Psalter daily, as did “The Confraternity of Prayer” founded by Dominicans at Piacenza in1259, thirty-eight years after the death of St. Dominic. [2]

7. The Abligensian heresy, a dualism belief similar to Manicheism, became the occasion for St. Dominic to preach using the Marian Psalter interspersed with meditations on the life of Christ.  The prayers on the beads were the body of the rosary and the meditations the soul.

8. From 1521 on, various popes credited St. Dominic with instituting the Rosary and gradually they gave it the form we know today.

The Holy Rosary, as it is sometimes called, means so much to Catholics because it provides an easy way to link the faithful to Jesus and Mary in daily life.  It promotes meditation on the life of Christ and especially fosters a love of his Mother which pleases Jesus as it would please any son. When prayed as a family, it promotes unity.  It was Father Patrick Peyton, CSC (1909-1992), who, seeing the disintegration of Christian values in society striking at the heart of the family, took to the radio in1945 and campaigned for the praying of the Rosary under the slogan, “The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together.” His religious order, the Congregation of the Holy Cross, still carries on the “Rosary Crusade” he founded.

Three Children of Fatima

As Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino said in a Zenit interview in 2004, “If it is well understood,” it is a prayer that says much.” He described it as deeply “contemplative. The repetition, which often from a distance might seem to be mechanical, in fact serves as a breath of the soul which, gazing on Jesus Christ, assumes a contemplative attitude through Mary’s eyes and heart.”

Contemplating Sacred Scripture accompanied by the Blessed Mother through the Rosary inevitably draws the faithful closer to Christ.  She knew him best and she was given to us by him to be our Mother, too, at the foot of the Cross (John 19: 26-27).  Because of its connection with Sacred Scripture, the Rosary means comfort, hope, light, love, and peace as it leads to the contemplation of heaven in the midst of this vale of tears.

[1]  Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II, October, 2002

[2] The Rosary and its Meaning by Father Francis William, p.26

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We often see St. Dominic painted with the rosary and to this day every Dominican wears a rosary as part of the habit (see painting above).  St. Bernadette Soubirous and other saints are portrayed praying the rosary, too.  Among the messages Our Lady of Fatima brought to the three children was to pray the rosary every day, and there is a famous picture of the three children with their rosaries (see above).

I pray the rosary as I am going to sleep at night and in the morning before I get up.  It’s a good way to calm down at the end of the day and to have a little “God time” before starting a new day. Part of the prayers I say when on a road trip is the rosary for the intention of arriving safely at the destination.  Because of the difficult times we are facing in our country, one of my rosaries each day is dedicated to the Sorrowful mysteries as I pray for deliverance of our nation.  I see Christ suffering in our people. Praying the rosary faithfully helps me understand the Bible better and is a way I can glorify God and honor Jesus through honoring Mary.

My favorite book on the rosary is by St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, Catholic Church

Consecration to the Immaculate Heart

March 25, 2010

Bishop James Vann Johnston

Update: 4/5/10

St. Mary’s Cathedral was packed with people from all over the diocese.  Considering that folks that live at the western end traveled 5-7 hours to reach the Cape, this was a priority for many.  Look for growth in faithfulness to the Christian vocation and leadership in Christian living from southern Missouri.  Some of the graces will remain hidden as always in God’s work, but I am confident that Our Lady will obtain much for us that will help us visibly witness to the love of God and bring others to Jesus.

Our bishop gave us a theologically sound prayer of consecration that speaks of his fatherly concern for all people living in the diocese.  For those who are familiar with this diocese, this consecration is a major, really big thing, and a sign of much good to come.

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Today Bishop James Vann Johnston is consecrating the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Many of us had written to him requesting this, so we are overjoyed that he chose the solemn feast of the Annunciation, the beginning of the Incarnation to formally put the diocese under Our Lady’s protection.

Today all parishes of the diocese prayed the consecration prayer and the bishop’s ceremony takes place this evening after the 5:15 Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral in the Cape.

This is the consecration prayer:

O Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven,

You chose Mary as the fairest of Your daughters;

God the Son, You chose Mary as Your Mother;

Holy Spirit, You chose Mary as Your spouse;

in union with Mary, we adore Your majesty

and acknowledge Your supreme, eternal dominion

and authority.  Most Holy Trinity.

we place the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau

into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that

she may present this diocese to You.

Immaculate Queen of Heaven and Earth, refuge of sinners

and our most loving Mother Mary, we humbly cast

ourselves at your feet, consecrating to your Immaculate

Heart all peoples and parishes of the Diocese of

Springfield-Cape Girardeau.  Protect the bishop of

this diocese and all his priests and deacons.

Protect the consecrated religious of this diocese.

Protect the families of this diocese.  Draw forth the

precious gift of many vocations to the priesthood and

religious life.  Look after sinners, the sick, the poor, the

tempted and upon all who are in need of your intercession.

O Mary, Immaculate Virgin, we ask that you draw

all of us closer to your Son’s Eucharistic Heart.

Let all of us be fit instruments in your immaculate and

merciful hands for introducing and increasing God’s glory

to the maximum in all the many strayed and

indifferent souls.  Help us as far as possible to serve the

advancement of the blessed kingdom of the

most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  For wherever you enter

you obtain grace of conversion and growth in holiness,

since it is through your hands that all graces come to us

from the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us

who have recourse to you!

Tags: Blessed Virgin

Sabbath Moments – Madonna with Child

March 20, 2010

Sabbath moments are the moments we rest in God, when we take time to just Be with God rather than Do.  Sabbath moments are those times when we live in the moment and find the holy in the ordinary. I invite you to share your Sabbath moment(s) at Colleen’s blog Thoughts on Grace on Saturdays. If you don’t have a blog, share about it in a comment! Hope you will join us!

I found this striking image of the Madonna with Child Clothed with Sunlight several years ago at 1st-art-gallery.com. You can order paintings of Old Masters from them.  Last evening I was so upset over the trampling of our Constitution and the frenzy to pass what is to me a “Death bill” that I knew I had to find peace.  Because sacred art is so calming to me, I decided to find out more about this image.  Above all others, it has continued to come to my mind over the years and I always hoped I could discover it’s origin.  Well, I hit pay dirt.

Madonna with Child Clothed in Sunlight, detail, c. 1450-60, tempera on panel, parish church in Przydonica, Poland

An artist, unknown to us today, painted it in Poland.  This image is not the complete painting but it is the only part I could find online.  The church where it hangs is located in the Tarnow diocese in the small town of Przydonica, Poland. Unfortunately I can’t read, write, or speak Polish so I am at a loss to learn more about it although I have done a lot of searching today.

I did find this much: Tarnow, an area of southern Poland with ancient and unusual architecture, is a tourist destination and deservedly so because of the beauty of the countryside and the many shrines there. Our Lady is much loved by the Polish people and you can find many images of her all over Poland.

My father, who passed away last September, grew up in a small Polish-German town in the Minnesota lake country.  They had two Catholic churches in town: St. Stanislaus for the Poles and St. Henry for the Germans.  Although of Bavarian descent, he loved everything Polish – literature, art, music, history and especially Pope John Paul II.  I know he would have loved to have seen this painting.

My Sabbath Moment is to gaze on this work of the love of Mary and her Child and appreciate that God has given so many artists over the years the grace to create such beautiful images.

Please send all your Polish friends and acquaintances a link to this post and ask them to send it on to other Polish people so they can perhaps give me more information about the painting, an interpretation of it, the church it is in, and any other relevant facts.  I would like to make this image of the Madonna much better known.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin

Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene

March 14, 2010

Christ Carrying the Cross, Hieronymous Bosch (b. ca. 1450, 's-Hertogenbosch, d. 1516, 's-Hertogenbosch), Oil on panel, Palacio Real, Madrid

Simon of Cyrene is Forced to Take Up the Cross

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

And as they led Him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, a passer-by, and forced Him to take up the cross of Jesus. And they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus.¹

V.  Whoever does not carry his cross and come after Me.

R.  Cannot be my disciple.²

Let Us Pray

Receive our prayers, O Lord, / and be appeased, / and in Thy mercy subdue to Thy service even our rebellious wills. / Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn:  For the sins of His own nation, saw Him hang in desolation, till His spirit forth He sent.

¹ Mt. 27: 32, Mk. 15: 21, Lk. 23: 26. ² Lk. 14: 27.  ³ Secret, Saturday of Fourth Week in Lent.

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The Secret prayer is very old in the celebration of the traditional Roman liturgy.  The celebrant says it in a low voice at the end of the Offertory because the choir is singing the offertory during this time.  Even at a Low Mass the Secret is said quietly.  It was called “secret” because it is the only prayer in the traditional liturgy that is said this way.  It is part of the Propers of the Mass.

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The painting above shows Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry the Cross.  Dating from Bosch’s mid-to-late period, this portrait of Christ draws the viewer into His eyes for an enduring devotional image.  The Blessed Mother collapses into the arms of St. John in the distance.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, Stations of the Cross

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

March 6, 2010

Welcome to our regular Sunday Snippets where you will find a group of Catholic bloggers sharing their best of the week.  Some of us blog about a variety of subjects so you are sure to find something interesting.  Visit our virtual living room at This That and the Other Thing where RAnn is our hostess.  If you are a blogger, join us by creating a Sunday Snippets post and linking to RAnn’s site.  Sign in on Mr. Linkey to create a link to your site.

This week I posted quite a few items.  Archbishop Chaput of Denver gave a great talk to the Baptist University of Houston on the role of Christians in American public life.  You can learn a little history of Catholicism in America here.  I love this bishop!  The link is: http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/2010/03/02/a-pernicious-construct/.

Monday I gave into my arty side and posted a digital painting with a Good Friday themed poem here: http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/2010/03/01/marys-tears/.  I called it “Mary’s Tears”.

Lent for me is a yearly reminder of the need for reparation and forgiveness. I bring you Dr. Paul Takashi Nagai’s address to the parishioners on November 23, 1945 at the bishop’s Requiem Mass for those killed by the atomic bomb in Nagasaki.  Really, it’s awesome.  Find it here: http://www.sufferingwithjoy.com/2010/03/02/the-way-of-reparation/. I tried to find out if his cause for sainthood had been advanced but the internet search yielded nothing.  I’m not giving up, though. Maybe I’ll write to his Cathedral of Maria parish in Urakami.

We’re used to hearing of Eucharistic Miracles in many centuries past, but what about today?  Here’s a video about recent Eucharistic Miracles that show Jesus is still trying to get our attention.  It’s a great subject for Lent and very impressive.

God bless all my readers.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin, Catholic bishops

Mary’s Tears

March 1, 2010

The last few days I’ve been working on this art piece in my digital art program.  It’s my first try at this kind of look and seemed like a good Lenten project.

Late last November we had rain and, looking out the window, I saw how beautiful the raindrops were on the nandina bushes. The sight made me think of Mary’s tears at the cross, so I took my small digital camera out and snapped a few shots.  Finding an area on one that I liked, I cropped it and painted the image.  Then through other digital machinations I finished the image, wrote the poem and voila!

If you want to share this with others, please link to this post, credit me and leave a comment here.  I’d like to know if it is worthwhile for me to make more of these kinds of images. God bless you, readers.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin

Jesus and Mary in Art

February 11, 2010

Sometimes it is just too much to pray using books or even rosaries when people are ill.  But sacred art demands no effort from us in gazing upon it’s beauty. This window to the divine draws our spirit and sweeps us to prayer almost before we know it.  It teaches us the truths of our faith wordlessly – a catechism in brush strokes, mosaics or sculpture.

Picturing Mary is a DVD I’ve had for some time and watch occasionally when I need calm and peace.  With today’s technology we can travel the world and see great images of her that date from very early Christendom.  Whenever I look at it something new strikes me and I am always left wishing for more.

The same can be said of the DVD,  The Face: Jesus in Art.  We are privileged to see images of Jesus from the catacombs through the 20th century and note how he is pictured in many different cultures.  As many sections as this video has, it, too, leaves me wishing for more.

Both of these were made for WNET 13, a New York public television channel.  Whenever I watch them I think what a great teaching aid they would be for home schooling families.  You can stop the video to demonstrate art principles and you can use it for art projects and appreciation.  But most of all, these videos inspire great love for Jesus and Mary through the artwork filmed.  I highly recommend them and have placed them in my store.

Tags: art, Blessed Virgin, joy

St. Jane of Valois

February 4, 2010

St. Jane of Valois

Today we honor St. Jane of Valois, surely an example of humility, persistence in prayer and also great charity. She was born in 1464 and died in 1505. A daughter of King Louis XI and Charlotte of Savoy, she was hated by her father from birth because he wanted a boy. Not only did he not get a boy, Jane was sickly and had some physical handicap. The king banished her to a country place where she was raised in a condition of grave neglect. But God had plans for His spurned and despised creature.  She developed a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother, especially in the mystery of the Incarnation.  The Angelus was her favorite prayer.  One day Our Lady revealed to her that she would found a religious community dedicated to her.

St. Jane could not escape being a pawn in the hands of her father.  Although he despised her, in a political scheme he betrothed her to his second cousin, Louis, Duke of Orleans, at the age of two months. They were married when Jane was nine.  She remained his loyal and devoted wife for twenty-two years.  Unfortunately, the Duke did not return her devotion.  He had not wanted the marriage and hated her even though she was instrumental in obtaining his release from prison for treason. Upon taking the throne as Louis XII, he publicly humiliated her by treating her ill in front of the court, repudiating her and seeking an annulment of his marriage from Rome. He got the annulment on the grounds that the marriage had not been consummated and that he had not consented to it. St. Jane saw this as a great blessing and used her situation to found the Order of the Annunciation.

The charism of her order is to practice the ten virtues of Our Lady as found in the Gospels.  They are:

• Most Pure (Mt 1:18, 20, 23; Lk 1:27,34)
• Most Prudent (Lk 2:19, 51)
• Most Humble (Lk 1:48)
• Most Faithful (Lk 1:45; Jn 2:5)
• Most Devout (Lk 1:46-7; Acts 1:14)
• Most Obedient (Lk 1:38; 2:21-2, 27)
• Most Poor (Lk 2:7)
• Most Patient (Jn 19:25)
• Most Merciful (Lk 1:39, 56)
• Most Sorrowful (Lk 2:35)

St. Jane also charged her community to pray for her husband, her father, and her brother as her legacy.  Such forgiveness after the cruel treatment she received is awe-inspiring.  St. Jane would be a great patron to ask for help in mastering the virtue of forgiveness. When she died, she was buried with the royal purple and a crown under her habit.

The Angelus, 1857, oil on canvas, Jean-Francois Millet

During St. Jane’s lifetime the Angelus prayer spread throughout France, helped by Pope Sixtus IV who was the first to attach an indulgence to it in 1475.  Devotion to this prayer continues today, and is enshrined in the great Impressionist painting of  Jean-Francois Millet (1814-1875) of the Barbizon school of landscape painting. 

It is interesting that almost  two-hundred years after Pope Sixtus encouraged the praying of the Angelus a painter named Jean-Francois created a work expressing the devotion to Our Lady that St. Jane (Jeanne) of Valois, whose spiritual directors were Franciscans, practiced.

We cannot escape suffering in this world so we might as well profit from it spiritually as did St. Jane, who though queen, was humiliated repeatedly by the very people who should have loved and cherished her.  She is a great example of suffering with joy.

If you would like to know how to pray the chaplet of the Ten Virtues of the Blessed Mother, go here.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, joy, suffering

Barb’s Custom Shop

I’m building an Amazon store of special recommendations for readers.  It’s taking awhile because I’m hand-picking the items, but the shop is now open!  You’ll be able to look at items and still get back to this site by clicking on “Suffering with Joy” at the bottom of the store page.

The first category that’s ready is “the Blessed Mother and those who love her and the Catholic faith”.  I’ll be adding another category dedicated to wellness, and a third for art movies (my hobby) which I’ll be reviewing from time-to-time. To get to the store you can either click on the store tab at the top of the page or click on “Barb’s Custom Shop” on the sidebar. Ishopping is great for those like me who can’t get out much and totally hate malls but like to browse without pressure.  Hope you enjoy it.

Readers are welcome to submit suggestions for me to add and I will if they fit the purpose of this site.  (Art movies are about beauty which I will be discussing at some point in relation to wellness and spirituality.)

Tags: Barb's Custom Shop, Blessed Virgin, wellness

Pray for Haiti

A person would have to be totally incommunicado for the past week not to know that Haiti is a total disaster.  The suffering defies description.  Those of us who have never faced such loss of life and property cannot know what it is like for them.  Since I got involved with Food for the Poor some years ago I receive their mailings and have never failed to be inspired by the faith of the poor they serve in the Carribean and Latin America.  There are many ways to give to help the Haitians.  Food for the Poor has a button to click on their home page, and Catholic Relief Services does, too.  Either organization puts the majority of the money towards the relief effort.

I am praying for the people and hope this tragedy will turn into something good for a nation that has been served with such terrible corruption nationally and internationally.  The politics of how their construction was so shabby that beyond a hundred thousand will have died before it is all over is more than I can cover here.  It’s time for the terrible cycle of poverty and victimization to end.  Mother Mary, Comfort of the Afflicted, pray for them – from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Yesterday I posted two new articles at Helium.  The titles are not mine – somebody else dreamed them up and others have written to these titles as well.  Just click on the link to go to the articles and scroll to my name if you are interested.

1.  Why Priests Wear a White Collar

2. Understanding the Purpose of the Beatitudes

Thanks for stopping by and please pray for me.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, helium, suffering

Today’s Happenings

This week I posted two new articles at Helium.  The first one is the final part of a trilogy on mental prayer or meditation.  Click here to read it: Pitfalls in Catholic Mental Prayer.  The second is Who Was the Virgin of Guadalupe? I also updated my article on Our Lady at my web site here, and dropped in an image of Quetzalcoatl.  I think you’ll enjoy it if you like to read about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Today I’m researching vitamin B3 for an article I want to post on niacinimide, which produces remarkable postive effects on a variety of health issues.  When I get it ready I’ll put it up as part of my goal to share how I am improving my quality of life even though I have severe fibromyalgia.

St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop, Doctor of the Church

Today is the feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers, bishop, +368 who fought the Arian heresy at several Church councils, was exiled by the emperor Constantius because of it, and converted many during his missionary travels in Gaul.  He is an early Church Father and Doctor of the Church.  Click on the picture and you will go to a writing of his on “The Spirit of Truth”.

Tags: fibromyalgia, Our Lady of Guadalupe, wellness

Merry Christmas

December 20, 2009

To all my readers, a most blessed and Merry Christmas!

The Annunciation (detail), 1430-32, Fra Angelico, tempera on wood, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Since I am addicted to art from the 12th to the 15th century, I wanted to introduce you to some of the great work of the famous Dominican holy painter, Fra Angelico by way of my Christmas gift to you.  I hope you will enjoy his work as much as I.

What prompted me to use Fra Angelico’s work is a book I’m currently reading: Love Does Such Things: God’s Christmas Gift to Man. Written by a well-known Trappist, Father Raymond, O.C.S.O., this book is a special joy because Father Raymond speaks of how often God says “Merry Christmas” to us each day of our lives, and in a personal way. So here is the beginning of my Christmas greeting to you: the detail on the left from “The Annunciation”.

As Father Raymond says, God told us Merry Christmas for the first time when He promised us a Savior after Adam and Eve sinned.  Fra Angelico shows Adam and Eve sadly leaving the garden with the angel guarding the entrance.  We see the hand of God emitting grace, which shows his enduring love for us and brings us to another major event when God told us “Merry Christmas” which we can see in the entire painting below:

The Annunciation, 1430-32, Fra Angelico, tempura on wood, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Fra Angelico painted the Annunciation many times, but this, one of his earliest, is my favorite.  We see the Holy Spirit speeding to the Virgin Mary, who has been interrupted in prayer (note the book on her knee) by the Angel Gabriel to announce God’s choice of her as mother of our Savior.  In another instant she will have uttered her “Fiat” and the Word will be made Flesh.

Rich with meaning, this painting, as all of his work, is a product of the many loving hours of prayer Fra Angelico spent with the Lord.  The prophet Isaiah who foretold a Virgin will bear a son and his name will be Emmanuel looks down over the scene of the fulfillment of his prophecy. Stars stud the blue canopy foreshadowing the night Jesus will be born, and say that the principals inhabiting this momentous event in salvation history, the Annunciation, are protected under the power of the Father.  Satan has no place here.  Our Lady is clothed in royal red, covered in a blue cloak – another sign of her heavenly stature, while the Angel Gabriel wears the finest of robes trimmed in gold.  His head is slightly lower than the Virgin’s, showing her place as above the angels.  Both have their arms crossed on their breasts in humility and reverence.  Adam and Eve are pale, gray, and sad from their sin, shown in the distance as from the faded past of Creation while God’s shining ray of grace traverses the centuries from the old Adam to the New. In this image we have the old and new Eve, the old Adam and the announcement of the New Adam to come.

Nativity, 1440-41, Fra Angelico, fresco, Convento di San Marco, Florence

My final gift is Fra Angelico’s “Nativity”, painted on the wall of cell 5 in the Convent of San Marco, Florence.  Besides Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, in this scene we see St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Peter Martyr adoring the Babe.  Above the stable are the angels who announced Jesus’s arrival, and the ox and ass who have interrupted their eating to recognize Jesus as the Lord of all.  Jesus Himself is laid in a hollow on the cave floor on a bed of straw taken from the animals inhabiting his humble first home, foreshadowing the sacrificial altar of the Lamb of God.

As Father Raymond says, “Christmas is a feast – for most people, the biggest of the year.  But Christmas is also a fact – and for all peoples, the greatest of any year.  To celebrate the feast aright, we have to grasp the fact.  We do that if we hear God greeting us at Christmas.  And that we hear is eternally important” (foreward, iv).

Glory to God in the highest!

Tags: Blessed Virgin, Christmas, Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, The Nativity

A Rosary for Our Country

Today I prayed an extra rosary that our nation be delivered from the pro-death powers governing our country.  Over the past few days my mind has seen hordes of dead – not just babies, but disabled people of all ages and the elderly.  The implications for life if Congress passes any form of the health care bill they are wrangling over are dim, dim, dim. It’s not only abortion, it’s the denying of livelihood to so many Americans through policies that pander to special interest groups. Terrible poverty, anarchy, and despotism with the attendant cruelty of such a world is all too close.  It’s all a continuum. A demonic darkness pervades this country at every level of government, but especially Capitol Hill.  If we lose our moral authority through pro-death laws, we can no longer offer hope to the suffering elsewhere on this planet.

This morning, I understood that I was to devote more prayer and sacrifice to our country’s situation.  Since today is Friday, I took the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary to Our Lady and asked her to crush the head of Satan – to put the screeching demons to flight.  I cannot go out to demonstrate anymore, I have written letters, sent emails, and done what I can from the temporal angle.  Now what is left is penance and prayer.

Agony in the Garden, 1465, Donatello, bronze, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence

Agony in the Garden: Dear Mother Mary, Jesus suffered a terrible agony in Gethsemane with no one beside Him except the angels.  He knew the pharisees were out to kill Him.  He sweat blood for us.  We are your children.  Please Mother Mary, do not let the demons of hell continue to inspire the evil directed at America through the power-drunk politicians who seek to destroy the nation and make it into something it was never founded to be.  Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.

Scourging at the Pillar: Dear Mother Mary, Jesus was scourged almost to death while the sadistic Roman guards laughed and the Pharisees and High Priests gloated.  His blood was poured out everywhere.  Please, dear Mother Mary, gather your children, we the brothers and sisters of Jesus, and ask your loving Son to stay the hands of those who would have our blood and our livelihood. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.

Crown of Thorns, c. 1510, Cranach, Lucas the Elder, oil on lime panel, private collection

Crowning with Thorns: Dear Mother Mary, with a cruelty beneath that of the animal kingdom and worthy only of the hateful demons of hell, the Roman guards pressed a crown of sharpest thorns into the head of your Son and our Brother.  They shoved a reed into His hand and threw a red cloak about Him while mocking His Kingship.  Please, Mother Mary, we are your sons and daughters, too.  Ask our dear Jesus to stay the hands and tongues of those who mock life and the dignity of all man with their plans to strike down the poor and helpless and continue the genocide of races. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.

Carrying of the Cross: Dear Mother Mary, you followed Jesus as he carried his heavy cross through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha. You saw the people curse and spit on Him.  You saw the soldiers beat Him when He fell.  You saw little mercy toward Him except for Veronica.  Please, Mother Mary, for the sake of the suffering of your Divine Son, ask dear Jesus to give His followers the strength to remain on the narrow path of life and to defeat the demonic forces that would go against the natural law of God. Plead with Him to stay the hands that would lay burdens upon our backs so heavy that we will fail under their load. Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.

Crucifixion, 1503, Cranach, Lucas the Elder, pine panel, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord: Dear Mother Mary, you saw and heard it all – the hammering of the nails, the thump and jolt of the cross as it sank into its hole.  You saw the soldiers gambling to win your Son’s clothes.  You heard the mocking of the crowd and more gloating from the Scribes and Pharisees. You heard him cry out from the Cross.  You accepted us as your children when He gave you to us as our Mother before He died.  Please, Mother Mary, ask your Son, Jesus, to come to our aid in this time when so many lives are threatened by the greedy and pompous who live by the dictatorship of relativity.  Plead with Him to stay the hands of those who would have us die because they believe we are unworthy of life.  Obtain from your Son, Jesus, the great graces necessary to convert their hearts and waken to the love of God.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, conversion, moral authority, pro-life