Happy Catholic*: Van Gogh

Monday, October 7, 2024

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Vase with Cornflowers and Poppies

Van Gogh, Vase with Cornflowers and Poppies
via Arts Everyday Living

Last year, I painted nothing but flowers to accustom myself to a a color other than grey, that’s to say pink, soft or bright green, light blue, violet, yellow, orange, glorious red.

Vincent van Gogh, letter to sister Willemien,
late October, 1887

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Psalm 33 — The Sovereignty of God

When you are gathered together with people who are righteous and upright of life, wing with them Psalm 33.
Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

I love the way this psalm begins, telling everyone to to rejoice, sing, and play instruments. One translation says "shout for joy." Another says "skillfully play with joyful chant." Anyway you look at it, this makes me think of a loud, joyful procession of call and response, of everyone joining in as loudly as they can. Again, I think of the joyful celebrations of song and dance from my beloved Indian movies.

This psalm of praise is about much more than God's reflection in creation, but I was really struck by verse 6 (NIV):

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

I'll never forget the many times I have looked up at the night sky and been reduced to tears by the beauty, grandeur, and mystery of the stars overhead. That's hard to do when you live in a big city like I do, but I remember the last time I was at my sister's house in Florida. They live in a spot where you can get complete darkness despite the houses around them and a casual glance at the sky left me rooted to the spot for a long time. My heart was so full of joy at God's goodness to his. After all, He made the world beautiful because he loves us. When I think of the power, creativity, and intelligence it took for that creation, I am overawed.

That brings me back to the rest of the psalm. If God can do that, can't we trust him to keep his word? The psalmist considers God's character and his interactions with us to show why we may trust God even if we might have to wait for his help. The key is to wait hopefully, with trust.

Van Gogh's Starry Night Over the Rhône
Van Gogh in a letter to Theo after having painted Starry Night Over the Rhône,
confessing to a "tremendous need for, shall I say the word—for religion—
so I go outside at night to paint the stars."

I'm going to let Basil the Great develop the idea of how nature lets us see the invisible God through visible things. I particularly love the way he won't hear of "accidental" development for nature or of "bad mishaps" in people's lives. This is not being able to see with God's foresight.

33:4 All God's Work
The Providence of God. Basil the Great. "If you see the heavens," he says, "and the order in them," they are a guide to faith, for through themselves they show the Craftsman; and, if you see the orderly arrangement about the earth, again through these things also your faith in God is increased. In fact, it is not by acquiring knowledge of God with our carnal eyes that we believe in him, but by the power of the mind we have perceived the invisible God through visible things. Therefore, "all his works are done with faithfulness." Even if you consider the stone, it also possesses a certain proof of the power of its Maker. likewise, if you consider the ant or the gnat or the bee. Frequently in the smallest objects the wisdom of the creator shines forth. He who unfolded the heavens and poured out the boundless expanses of the seas, he it is who hollowed out the very delicate sting of the bee like a tube, so that through it the poison might be poured out. Therefore "all his works are done with faithfulness." Do not say, "This happened by chance" and "that occurred accidentally." Nothing is casual, nothing indeterminate, nothing happens at random, nothing among things that exist is caused by chance. And do not say, "It is a bad mishap," or "it is an evil hour." these are the words of the untaught. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? (Mt. 10:29) And yet not one of them will fall" (Mt. 10:29) without the divine will. How many are the hairs of your head? Not one of them will be forgotten. (Cf. Mt. 10:30) Do you see the divine eye, how none of the least trifles escapes its glance? Homilies on the Psalms.
An index of psalm posts is here.