After Christmas

After Christmas” by Fritz von Uhde
via J.R.'s Art Place

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. The Baptism of Christ. 1844-45

Via Olga's Art Gallery

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord. This brings to an end the season of Christmas. The Church recalls Our Lord's second manifestation or epiphany which occurred on the occasion of His baptism in the Jordan. Jesus descended into the River to sanctify its waters and to give them the power to beget sons of God. The event takes on the importance of a second creation in which the entire Trinity intervenes.

Read more about this feast day at Catholic Culture.

Adoration of the Magi

Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi, 1423 (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

Click on the link to go to the original and then click again on the photo to enlarge it. You can see a fascinating amount of detail. And in this painting, detail matters!

I was made aware of this magnificent piece by my friend Patsy. It is just the sort of thing I love, with tons of details and other small related paintings to enrich the story and our inspiration. She points out a deep meaning in the portrayal of the kings.

My favorite detail is the "magi" themselves.

The old one is first, on his knees, his gift already in the hands of the maids, and his crown forgotten on the ground, out of the way. Most precious of all--the old king is kissing the foot of Baby Jesus, while Jesus' tiny hand is on his bare head.

The second king, a mature man, is beginning to kneel to present his gift, and is ready to take off his crown. His eyes are on the Baby Jesus.

Now the third king, a young man, maybe not yet so wise, is still standing fully upright, his elaborate crown firmly on his head. One of this man's feet is, of all places, on the hem of the old king's robe. A valet is removing, after the long journey, his golden riding spurs. The young king's gift for the King of Kings, is proffered delicately, almost impersonally. He is still very young and independent.

Easy to see the artist is depicting stages in a spiritual life, growth in seeing, understanding, familiarity with our loving Lord (playful, as one writer sees him) who lets us feel his touch as we humbly reverence his tiny feet. We take off our shoes in his holy presence, lay our triumphs at his feet, and return to him our most precious treasures to use as he wishes.

Flooded with details, the painting boasts of a rich narrative as well. Notice the attendants behind Mary as they curiously examine the first gift. Or in the right foreground, observe the royal dog that looks precariously up at the horse who is about to carelessly step onto him. Indeed intriguing are the gold anklet spurs of the third king being taken off by a squire as the Magus prepares to approach the Christ Child.

Aletia

Be sure to go to the Aletia article for lots more good insight into this work.

I also found an article from Khan Academy looking at this work, and the many details, from a different angle. It too is well worth reading.

In the middle predella panel, the new family flees to Egypt against a landscape bathed in the blazing midday sun – a raised golden orb amid a blue sky showering the nearest hillsides in gold. ...

Gentile used real gold to achieve many of these subtle lighting effects, demonstrating his ability to combine intricate manipulation of precious materials with an interest in naturalism. Perfecting a technique that would be copied by many other artists, he layered gold leaf underneath layers of paint to lend brightly lit surfaces an added glow—an effect that would be more readily apparent in candlelight. This means precious metals are woven underneath the surface, on the surface, and protruding from the surface, like a tapestry made of paint and gold.

Solemnity of Epiphany

Giotto, Adoration of the Magi
via Wikipedia

We are perhaps in danger of not realizing fully how close Our Lord is to our lives because God presents himself to us under the insignificant appearance of a piece of bread, because he does not reveal himself in his glory, because he does not impose himself irresistibly, because he slips into our life like a shadow, instead of making his power resound at the summit of all things ... How many souls are troubled because God does not show himself in the way they expected! (J. Leclerq, A Year with the Liturgy)

In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide

The Solemnity of the Epiphany is celebrated either on January 6 or, according to the decision of the episcopal conference, on the Sunday between January 2 and January 8. Epiphany celebrates the visit of the three kings or wise men to the Christ Child, signifying salvation for the Gentiles. Read more at Catholic Culture.

Christmas - finishing the season

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for -- I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times.

Kate L. Bosher

Return of the Holy Family from Egypt

Giovanni Baglione, Return of the Holy Family from Egypt

Christmas with Charles Dickens - again!

What better way to wind down our Christmas season than with a quote from Dickens?

I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.

Charles Dickens

Flight Into Egypt - Icon

Flight into Egypt (detail of the icon Nativity, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai)

Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Luc-Olivier Merson, Rest on the Flight into Egypt

I love this imaginative flight. It never would have occurred to me to put the Holy Family together with the Sphinx.

Christmas — The Bells!

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Three Magi

The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic c. 565,
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy;(restored during the 18th century).
As we see here Byzantine art usually depicts the Magi in Persian clothing
which includes breeches, capes, and Phrygian caps.

Christmas Spirit

Because, yes, it is STILL Christmas! We're in this mighty celebration until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which isn't until next Monday.

For the spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of mankind.

Loring A. Schuler

The Adoration of the Magi

The Adoration of the Magi by Edward Burne-Jones

Christmas Isn't Over Yet!

Christmas, my child, is love in action.

Dale Evans

New Year's Day Postcard

New Year's Day postcard circa 1900

Twain on New Year's Day

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.

Mark Twain

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

Image from Chant Art

All the feasts of Our Lady are great events, because they are opportunities the church gives us to show with deeds that we love Mary. But if I had to choose one from among all her feasts, I would choose today's, the feast of the Divine Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin ...

When the Blessed Virgin said Yes, freely, to the plans revealed to her by the Creator, the divine Word assumed a human nature, with a rational soul and a body, formed in the most pure womb of Mary. The divine nature and the human were united in a single Person: Jesus Christ, true God and, thenceforth, true man: the only-begotten and Eternal Son of the Father and, from that moment on, as Man, the true son of Mary. This is why Our Lady is the Mother of the Incarnate Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who has united our human nature to himself forever, without any confusion of the two natures. The greatest praise we can give to the Blessed Virgin is to address her loud and clear by the name that expresses her highest dignity: Mother of God.

St. Josemaria Escriva, Friends of God

Christmas - Mirth is also of Heaven's Making

Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making.

Leigh Hunt

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Holy Family, Albrecht Durer

Between Joseph and Mary there existed a holy affection, a spirit of service, and a mutual desire for each others' happiness. This is Jesus' family: sacred, holy, exemplary, a model of human virtues, ready to carry out God's will exactly. A Christian home must be an imitation of the house of Nazareth; a place where there is plenty of room for God so that He can be right at the centre of the love that members of the family have for one another.

In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide

This feast day falls on the first Sunday after Christmas. When a Sunday does not occur between December 25 and January 1, this feast is celebrated on December 30. (The Church — they understand schedule conflicts!)

I have a special fondness for this feast, engendered largely because of my fervent prayers to the Holy Family in a very trying time, after which Tom and I were given a miraculous sign. Life in the Holy Family is one of my favorite subjects of contemplation, whether when formally in prayer or in little flashes as our family goes through the weeks and years with good and bad times alike.

Chicago Snow

Chicago Snow by Karin Jurick

 Be sure to look at this close up. It is delightful. Or maybe that's just because I'm in Dallas where we don't get much snow.