1907 Christmas Card

A 1907 Christmas card with Santa and some of his reindeer

Christmas with Charles Dickens

The best sitting room at Manor Farm was a good, long, dark-paneled room with a high chimney-piece, and a capacious chimney, up which you could have driven one of the new patent cabs, wheels and all. At the upper end of the room, seated in a shady bower of holly and evergreens, were the two best fiddlers, and the only harp, in all Muggleton. In all sorts of recesses, and on all kinds of brackets, stood massive old silver candlesticks with four branches each. The carpet was up, the candles burnt bright, the fire blazed and crackled on the hearth, and merry voices and light-hearted laughter range through the room.

Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

Fifth Day of Christmas: Optional Memorial of St. Thomas Becket

The Church celebrates the optional memorial of St. Thomas Becket, bishop and martyr. He was born in London and after studying in Paris, he first became chancellor to the king and then in 1162 was chosen Archbishop of Canterbury. He went from being "a patron of play-actors and a follower of hounds" to being a "shepherd of souls." He absorbed himself in the duties of his new office, defending the rights of the Church against Henry II. This prompted the king to exile him to France for six years. After returning to his homeland he endured many trials and was murdered by agents of the king.

Source: Catholic Culture

See also this entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Noel by J. R. R. Tolkien

Grim was the world and grey last night:
The moon and stars were fled,
The hall was dark without song or light,
The fires were fallen dead.
The wind in the trees was like to the sea,
And over the mountains’ teeth
It whistled bitter-cold and free,
As a sword leapt from its sheath.

The lord of snows upreared his head;
His mantle long and pale
Upon the bitter blast was spread
And hung o’er hill and dale.
The world was blind, the boughs were bent,
All ways and paths were wild:
Then the veil of cloud apart was rent,
And here was born a Child.

The ancient dome of heaven sheer
Was pricked with distant light;
A star came shining white and clear
Alone above the night.
In the dale of dark in that hour of birth
One voice on a sudden sang:
Then all the bells in Heaven and Earth
Together at midnight rang.

Mary sang in this world below:
They heard her song arise
O’er mist and over mountain snow
To the walls of Paradise,
And the tongue of many bells was stirred
in Heaven’s towers to ring
When the voice of mortal maid was heard,
That was mother of Heaven’s King.

Glad is the world and fair this night
With stars about its head,
And the hall is filled with laughter and light,
And fires are burning red.
The bells of Paradise now ring
With bells of Christendom,
And Gloria, Gloria we will sing
That God on earth is come.

The Nativity, 1858, Arthur Hughes

 This poem was published in the 1936 Annual of Our Lady’s School, Abingdon, Tolkien’s “Noel” was unknown and unrecorded until scholars Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull discovered it while searching for another poem in June 2013.

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.

Christmas with Washington Irving

 

It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling--the season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Washington Irving, Old Christmas

Fourth Day of Christmas: Massacre of the Holy Innocents

Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maesta (front, predella): The Massacre of the Innocents
via Wikipedia.

Nor must we forget that our greatest happiness and our most authentic good are not always those which we dream of and long for. It is difficult for us to see things in their true perspective: we can only take in a very small part of complete reality. We only see the tiny piece of reality that is here, in front of us. We are inclined to feel that earthly existence is the only real one and often consider our time on earth to be the period in which all our longings for perfect happiness ought to be fulfilled.

There is anguish for us, twenty centuries later, in thinking of the slain babies and their parents. for the babies the agony was soon over; in the next world they would come to know whom they had died to save and for all eternity would have that glory. For the parents, the pain would have lasted longer; but at death they too must have found that there was a special sense in which God was in their debt, as he had never been indebted to any. They and their children were the only ones who ever agonized in order to save God's life ... (F. J. Sheed, To Know Christ Jesus)

In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide

Read more about the Holy Innocents here.

Christmas - Our hearts grow tender

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Third Day of Christmas: St. John the Evangelist

Piero della Francesca. St. John the Evangelist. c. 1465.

In his extreme old age he continued to visit the churches of Asia. St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him so that he was no longer able to preach to the people, he would be carried to the assembly of the faithful by his disciples, with great difficulty; and every time said to his flock only these words: "My dear children, love one another."

This makes me think of John Paul II in his last years. Read more about St. John here.

The Keepsakes and Customs of Christmas

It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.

Marjorie Holmes

Second Day of Christmas: St. Stephen, The First Martyr

Byzantine icon, 11th century

We have only just celebrated the birth of our Lord and already the liturgy presents us with the feast of the first person to give his life for this Baby who has been born. Yesterday we wrapped Christ in swaddling clothes; today, he clothes Stephen with the garment of immortality. Yesterday, a narrow manger cradled the baby Christ; today, the infinite heaven has received Stephen in triumph. (St. Fulgentius, Sermon 3)

The Church wants to make us realize that the Cross is always very close to Jesus and his followers. As he struggles for perfect righteousness - sanctity - in this world, the Christian will meet perfect situations and attacks by the enemies of God. Our Lord has warned us: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you ... Remember the word that I said to you; a servant is not greater than his master: If they persecuted me they will persecute you. (John 15:18-20) Since the very beginning of the Church this prophecy has been fulfilled. And in our days too, if we really follow Our Lord, we are going to suffer difficulties and persecutions in one way or another and of different kinds. Every age is an age of martyrdom, St. Augustine tells us. Don't say that Christians are not suffering persecution; the Apostle's words are always true ...: All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim 3:12) All, he says, with no one being excluded or exempted. If you want to test the truth of this saying, you have only to begin to lead a pious life and you will see what good reason he had for saying this. (St. Augustine, Sermon 6, 2)

In Conversation with God: Advent and Christmastide

Glorious Mess

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly.

Andy Rooney

And we never do.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas by Viggo Johansen, 1891

 

Welcome Lord Jesus Into Our Midst

BRONZINO, Agnolo
1535-40, Adoration of the Shepherds

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

Isaiah 9:1-6

Thanks be to God!

May He bless you richly and may we recognize the blessings He sends us.
Merry Christmas!

Ghost of Christmas Present

The Ghost of Christmas Present
from the original edition of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843

More Christmas Punny Stuff

Last week I ran some Christmas jokes. Here's a second set which made me laugh just as much.

What nationality is Santa Claus?

He's North Polish!

Why does Santa Claus insist that all the elves wash their clothes in Tide?

Because at the North Pole, it's too cold to wash them OUT tide.

What did the reindeer say before launching into his comedy routine?

This will sleigh you!

Good King Wenceslas phoned Domino's for a pizza.

The salesgirl asked him: "Do you want your usual? Deep pan, crisp and even?"

And with that Irish you a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve: Considering the Incarnation

Looking through old Christmas posts, I came across this bulletin insert that I wrote a few years ago. I found it good to reread and you may also so I present it again here.

Considering the Truth of the Incarnation

No worldly mind would ever have suspected that He Who could make the sun warm the earth would one day have need of an ox and an ass to warm Him with their breath; that He Who, in the language of Scriptures, could stop the turning about of Arcturus would have His birthplace dictated by an imperial census; that He, Who clothed the fields with grass, would Himself be naked; that He, from Whose hands came planets and worlds, would one day have tiny arms that were not long enough to touch the huge heads of the cattle; that the feet which trod the everlasting hills would one day be too weak to walk; that the Eternal Word would be dumb; that Omnipotence would be wrapped in swaddling clothes; that Salvation would lie in a manger; that the bird which built the nest would be hatched therein—no one would have ever suspected that God coming to this earth would ever be so helpless. And that is precisely why so many miss Him. Divinity is always where one least expects to find it. ...

No man can love anything unless he can get his arms around it, and the cosmos is too big and too bulky. But once God became a Babe and was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, men could say, “This is Emmanuel, this is God with us.” By His reaching down to frail human nature and lifting it up to the incomparable prerogative of union with Himself, human nature became dignified. So real was this union that all of His acts and words, all of His agonies and tears, all of His thoughts and reasonings, resolves and emotions, while being properly human, were at the same time the acts and words, agonies and tears, thought and reasonings, resolves and emotions of the Eternal Son of God.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ

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PMRMaeyaert, Sint-Walburgakerk, Oudenaarde, Belgium
via Wikipedia, Creative Commons License 3.0

In our meditations upon the Incarnation we encounter many familiar images. This is natural and to be expected. It is automatic to think sentimentally and comfortably about the little babe, the adoring parents, singing angels, startled shepherds, and Magi with gifts, while traditional carols echo in our ears.

However, as Fulton Sheen reminds us, the reality of the Incarnation is not comfortable at all. It is God breaking into human time and nature and history to effect a miracle so outrageous that no one would have thought it up in their wildest dreams. The Second Person of the Trinity willingly takes on our limited human nature, purely for love of us. Shocking? Yes. Amazing? Yes. But comfortable? No.

This also is a good reminder that it is very easy to read into Scripture what we would like to see. Pulling the truth out of Scripture, also called exegesis, is considerably more difficult. That truth may prove quite a bit more surprising than we expect. God does have a habit of showing us truth in surprising ways.

To think of the Christ child at Christmas is natural. Undeniably those are the images of the season. However, the meaning of this baby for us and for all mankind is far from a sentimental picture. Jesus comes to us as a baby so we will learn something of his real nature and of the beginning of the path that he will tread and that we must follow.

Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898), The Nativity

Pope Benedict XVI helps us to consider further the layers of meaning in the Incarnation. In a Christmas homily* he said:

God’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. … God’s sign is simplicity. … God’s sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendour. He comes as a baby – defenceless and in need of our help. … He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts and his will – we learn to live with him and to practice with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. ...

In our meditations upon the Incarnation we encounter many familiar images. This is natural and to be expected. However, let us not settle for comfort. Let us dig deeper and discover the true nature of the Lord, he who is Love incarnate, who came to show that love for you and for me.

-------------------------------------------------------

* Read online Pope Benedict XVI’s entire homily from Midnight Mass 2006, Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord 

Christmas Jokes

Repeating this because these made me laugh ... again!

I love hollandaise sauce. It caused a lot of cavities. My dentist told me I would need a plate made of chrome if I wanted to continue my hollandaise habit. I said, “Really?” He said. “Oh yes. There’s no plate like chrome for the Hollandaise.”

What do you call a bunch of grandmasters of chess bragging about their games in a hotel lobby? Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!

Why does Santa have 3 gardens?
So he can ho-ho-ho.

What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Snowflakes.

There was once a great czar in Russia named Rudolph the Red. He stood looking out the windows of is palace one day while his wife, the Czarina Katerina, sat nearby knitting. He turned to her and said, "Look my dear, it has begun to rain!" Without even looking up from her knitting she replied, "It's too cold to rain. It must be sleeting." The Czar shook his head and said, "I am the Czar of all the Russias, and Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!"

Why do mummies like Christmas so much?
Because of all the wrapping!

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright
By Karin Jurick

An Advent Story

Brandywine Books posted this true story  years ago. I liked it so much that I am reposting it now. Just a little something to remind us of why we are standing at that window, waiting for the light ...

When Marvin was a young teenager (around the 1930s or early ‘40s, I imagine), he asked his father if he could go with the other kids to some entertainment event (he didn’t say what kind). His father said it wouldn’t be appropriate and told him no. Marvin said he was going anyway, and headed out.

“If you go out without my approval,” his father told him as he reached the door, “this house will be locked when you get home, and you’ll have to sleep somewhere else.”

Marvin refused to back down. He left. He enjoyed the event.

That, he said, was the short part of the night.

When he got home he found the house dark, the doors locked. Even that window in the basement that the kids could sometimes work loose was locked tight.

Marvin stood in the dark, thinking about his options. It wasn’t winter, but it was fall and the night was getting cold.

He remembered a sort of loft in the chicken coop which his brother and he had appropriated as a “secret place.” It had a sort of a mattress and a ratty quilt.

He went into the chicken coop and climbed up. The “mattress” was there, but the quilt was gone.

Lacking other options, he lay down on the mattress and curled up in a fetal position. The cold wind blew in through the cracks. The coop stank of chicken droppings. There was no way to sleep. He lay there in the darkness hugging himself, shivering. The hours passed slowly. He wondered if he could make it through the night.

Then, at last, he heard a door open. He heard a creaking sound as someone climbed the board ladder to the loft. Someone put a pillow under his head, lay down and held him close, and pulled a quilt over both of them.

In the darkness, he heard his father say, “Marvin, when I said that if you disobeyed me you’d have to find another place to sleep tonight, I didn’t say that I would sleep inside.”

And so that pastor taught his son the true meaning of the Incarnation.

Wish I’d had a dad like that.

Wait. I do.

Magi

Carving of the Magi from the Romanesque Cathedral of Saint Lazare/Autun

Yes, it is too early to really think of the Magi arriving, but let's just think about the fact that they had to be on the road for a while. So we may surely think of the angel inspiring them to get underway.

A Thought for Advent

There will be those who say: "that is exactly why I don't go to Communion more often, because I realize my love is cold ..." If you are cold, do you think it sensible to move away from the fire? Precisely because you feel your heart frozen you should go "more frequently" to Holy Communion, provided you feel a sincere desire to love Jesus Christ. "Go to Holy Communion," says St. Bonaventure, "even when you feel lukewarm, leaving everything in God's hands. The more my sickness debilitates me, the more urgently do I need a doctor."

St. Alphonsus Liguori, The practice of love for Jesus, 2
Quoted in In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez
Daily Meditations Vol. 1: Advent and Christmastide

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

A former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating – effective in any situation.

After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders, and terrorists. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most – when people’s lives were at stake.

Rooted in the real-life experiences of an intelligence professional at the top of his game, Never Split the Difference will give you the competitive edge in any discussion.

This isn't not the sort of book I normally would ever read. However, it was given to me by a fellow home advocate from the St. Vincent de Paul Society who told me that it would be invaluable in dealing with landlords. This is both funny and probably true. So I read it.

It immediately grabbed me with the contrast of fascinating hostage negotiations and the underlying idea of truly listening to the person you are talking to. Certainly I learned concepts that are going to be helpful in intentional listening and thoughtful communications.

My mind was blown by the last chapter - The Black Swan - as I remembered a conversation that had completely failed in a way I'd never experienced precisely because it was a Black Swan. Very enlightening and something I hope I have learned from for the future.

Collecting the Tree

Father and son with their dog collecting a tree in the forest,
painting by Franz Krüger (1797–1857)

Catholic Cartoons by Joshua Masterson

Experience the amusing, chaotic, and sacred moments in Fr. Otto's daily life and parish in this inaugural Catholic Cartoon collection, beautifully illustrated by Joshua Masterson (@the catholic cartoonist).

The cartoons were gently amusing, a la Family Circus. And I sometimes found myself laughing out loud. Recommended for light amusement. There are 2 volumes now.

Santa and The Print Collector

Santa and The Print Collector
by Santa Classics

Perusing my back files, I rediscovered Santa Classics. Ed Wheeler, an artist and photographer, shows Santa entering into great artistic masterpieces. Somehow he pulls this off both with humor and reverence for the originals. Drop by and take a look around!

An Advent Reflection on the Child Who Made His Mother

Of every other child that is born into the world, friends can say that it resembles his mother. This was the first instance in time that anyone could say that the mother resembled the Child. This is the beautiful paradox of the Child Who made His mother; the mother, too was only a child. It was also the first time in the history of this world that anyone could ever think of heaven as being anywhere else than "somewhere up there"; when the Child was in her arms, Mary now looked down to Heaven ...

Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen

Beautiful.

Space Opera Gold: Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Plan B, I Dare

Right now, I'm having a blast working my way back through my favorite space opera series, set in the Liaden Universe. They have one cliff hanger after another, an imaginative universe, and the series doesn't let you down through the entire storyline.

To give you a brief idea of where these books begin, here's a good summary from an Amazon review by a fan:

Val Con yos'Phelium, undercover agent of change (aka spy), was just doing a routine mission on some backwater planet in the middle of the universe when his life changed. After completing his mission, he encountered a small spitfire of a woman and saved her life, for which she promptly repaid him by bashing his head in. When Val Con woke up, the spitfire dumped him, but Val Con was intrigued, so he followed her and saved her life again. Now Miri Robertson, whose life he had saved twice, was forced to deal with Val Con, honor demanded it. She was intrigued by Val Con, whom she nicknamed "Tough Guy", but definitely didn't want a partner. As a former mercenary and bodyguard, she could handle herself and, as a target for the powerful Juntavas crime ring, she couldn't trust anyone...

However, both Val Con and Miri, both of whom were used to working alone, soon found that they worked well as partners. At least they would if Miri would stop trying to ditch Val Con at every opportunity. Val Con knew that Miri was something special, she made him feel things that he hadn't felt in years, she made him feel alive again. Miri didn't know what was wrong with Val Con, but she knew it had something to do with what he called The Loop, some kind of brain implant that gave him the odds of success on every mission/action he made. As they grew closer together, both Val Con and Miri realized that the Department of the Interior, who had trained Val Con as an agent, must have some ulterior motive in plan. But in order to find out what it was, they had to stay alive...

In order, the books I'm reading are below. Links go to my reviews on Goodreads.

• Agent of Change
• Carpe Diem
• Plan B
• I Dare

I'm not as big a fan of Conflict of Honors which precedes the above books. However, I realized that I can't really recall it so am rereading. 

I am a fan of the two prequels to the above series.

• Local Custom (Shan's parents' story)
  
• Scout's Progress (about Val Con's parents) ... My review is simple: "Space opera gold." You can hear a sample of Scout's Progress when I featured it as an author excerpt at Forgotten Classics.
  

I encountered these when they were first being released. Since then, authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller were discovered by many readers who became avid fans. They went on to write tons of Liaden books, but my favorites are the ones above. Dive in and enjoy!

Titan Travel Poster

Titan
from NASA's Visions of the Future collection

Frigid and alien, yet similar to our own planet billions of years ago, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has a thick atmosphere, organic-rich chemistry and a surface shaped by rivers and lakes of liquid ethane and methane. Cold winds sculpt vast regions of hydrocarbon-rich dunes. There may even be cryovolcanoes of cold liquid water. NASA's Cassini orbiter was designed to peer through Titan's perpetual haze and unravel the mysteries of this planet-like moon.

I really love these posters. Imagination, art, and science!

Do not be shy of the contest ...

Do not be shy of the contest, if you truly love the prize. Let knowledge of the reward set the mind on fire to accomplish the work. What we desire, and wish for, and seek, will be hereafter; but what we were ordered to do, for the sake of that which will be hereafter, must be now.

St. Augustine

I need to be reminded of this, of the big picture instead of getting bogged down by the worries of the moment. God's bigger picture does set my heart on fire. I need to let those flames drive me toward him and his work.

Nativity on Japanese Christmas Card

Nativity on a Japanese Christmas Card via J.R.'s Art Place

The Nativity as depicted on a Japanese Christmas card, from the collections of the Marian Library at the University of Dayton, Ohio. Isn't this great? I especially love finding Christian art as depicted by different cultures.

Art: Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street. Valentine Davies.
via Books and Art

Now that's a gorgeous cover — the sort they don't make these days.

Advent Meditation: Prayer While Shopping During Advent

I try to keep this in mind when battling the crowds, looking for that hard-to-find toy, or viewing with astonishment that person who snapped up the parking place I'd clearly been waiting for. It helps me focus on the right reason for shopping, keeping perspective, and keeping my eyes on Christ.

Prayer While Shopping During Advent
(source)

Dear God, as I look through my gift shopping list,
I hold up to you each person listed on it.
Slowly, one by one,
I ask that the fire of your abundant love burn within each of them.
I pray that the gift I find for each person
will bring joy into that life.

But, help me to keep a balance this season, Lord.
Let me keep my buying in perspective,
not to spend more than I need to or can afford.
Let me not give in to the pressures of this world
and not equate love with money spent.
Let me always remember the many, many people
who have so much less in material things.

And finally, loving God,
help me to find time in the frantic moments of each day
to become centered on you.
Walking through a store,
riding on the bus,
hurrying down a street:
let each of these times be moments
when I can remember your incredible love for me
and rejoice in it.

Amen.

St. Lucy's Day

"Saint Lucy's Day" by Carl Larsson, 1908

 

When I came across this image I had to share it ... and let us all know that it is St. Lucy's Day.

I've never paid much attention to St. Lucy beyond a casual knowledge of her connection to light and that she is venerated especially in Scandinavian countries. And of the custom of wearing candles for a breakfast celebration, which is illustrated in a lovely fashion in this painting.

Lucy's feast is on 13 December, in Advent. Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a festival of light.

This is particularly seen in Scandinavian countries, with their long dark winters. There, a young girl dressed in a white dress and a red sash (as the symbol of martyrdom) carries palms and wears a crown or wreath of candles on her head. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, girls dressed as Lucy carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung. It is said that to vividly celebrate St. Lucy's Day will help one live the long winter days with enough light.

Wikipedia

Detail from Mesa

Although this post praising Lines and Colors is old, the point is not. I still love that blog and am happy every time there's a new post.

Detail from Mesa, Jan Davidsz de Heem
via Lines and Colors

One of the things I love about Lines and Colors is the way that Charley Parker will sometimes choose a single painting and then pull out details that make it possible for me to better appreciate the artist.

This is one such case because I am not, as a rule, drawn to still life paintings but the different details highlighted made me view the work with new eyes. Swing by there to see what I mean.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

This my annual post about Our Lady of Guadalupe. I usually am not especially interested in one visitation of Mary more than another, but there is something about Our Lady of Guadalupe that captures my attention. It is all the concrete symbolism that can be seen. Be sure to check out all the links. There is some fantastic information in those places.

MEMORIAL

The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego on Tepayac hill near Mexico City on the 9th of December 1531 to ask for the construction of a church there in her honour. After the miraculous cure of his uncle, Bernardo, this Indian peasant brought to his Bishop some roses that he received from Our Lady as a sign of her request. As the flowers fell from his cloak to the ground before the astonished Prelate, the image of the blessed virgin, which is venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe to this day, was miraculously impressed on the simple garment before their eyes.

In Conversation With God Vol 7: Feast Days, July-December

There is so much in that image that speaks to Catholic hearts through symbolism.

However, there is much more to Our Lady of Guadalupe's image than that. As with all good Catholic images there is abundant symbolism that was specifically designed to speak to the hearts of the people to whom she brought her message ... the Aztecs. I remember when our priest put out a flyer about this and I was just knocked out at how meaningful every single thing in the image is. I really like this explanation.

The miraculous image produced on the apron or tilma of Blessed Juan Diego is rich in symbolism. The aureole or luminous light surrounding the Lady is reminiscent of the "woman clothed with the sun" of Rev. 12:1. The light is also a sign of the power of God who has sanctified and blessed the one who appears. The rays of the sun would also be recognized by the native people as a symbol of their highest god, Huitzilopochtli. Thus, the lady comes forth hiding but not extinguishing the power of the sun. She is now going to announce the God who is greater than their sun god.

The Lady is standing upon the moon. Again, the symbolism is that of the woman of Rev. 12:1 who has the "moon under her feet". The moon for the Meso-Americans was the god of the night. By standing on the moon, she shows that she is more powerful than the god of darkness. However, in Christian iconography the crescent moon under the Madonna's feet is usually a symbol of her perpetual virginity, and sometimes it can refer to her Immaculate Conception or Assumption.

The eyes of Our lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open. We can only imagine how tenderly her eyes looked upon Blessed Juan Diego when she said: " Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief -- Am I not here who am your Mother?"

The angel supporting the Lady testifies to her royalty. To the Meso-American Indians only kings, queens and other dignitaries would be carried on the shoulders of someone. The angel is transporting the Lady to the people as a sign that a new age has come.

The mantle of the Lady is blue-green or turquoise. To the native people, this was the color of the gods and of royalty. It was also the color of the natural forces of life and fecundity. In Christian art, blue is symbolic of eternity and immortality. In Judaism, it was the color of the robe of the high priest. The limbus or gold border of her mantle is another sign of nobility.

The stars on the Lady's mantle shows that she comes from heaven. She comes as the Queen of Heaven but with the eyes of a humble and loving mother. The stars also are a sign of the supernatural character of the image. The research of Fr. Mario Rojas Sanchez and Dr. Juan Homero Hernandez Illescas of Mexico (published in 1983) shows that the stars on the Lady's mantle in the image are exactly as the stars of the winter solstice appeared before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1531.

The color of the Madonna's dress is rose or pale-red. Some have interpreted this as the color of dawn symbolizing the beginning of a new era. Others point to the red as a sign of martyrdom for the faith and divine love.

The gold-encircled cross brooch under the neck of the Lady's robe is a symbol of sanctity.

The girdle or bow around her waist is a sign of her virginity, but it also has several other meanings. The bow appears as a four-petaled flower. To the native Indians this was the nahui ollin, the flower of the sun, a symbol of plenitude. The cross-shaped flower was also connected with the cross-sticks which produce fire. For them, this was the symbol of fecundity and new life. The high position of the bow and the slight swelling of the abdomen show that the Lady is "with child". According to Dr. Carlos Fernandez Del Castillo, a leading Mexican obstetrician, the Lady appears almost ready to give birth with the infant head down resting vertically. This would further solidify her identification with the woman of Rev. 12 who is about to give birth.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother and Patroness of the Unborn,
1999 Office of Respect Life – Diocese of Austin

Read about this apparition of Our Lady in more depth at Catholic Culture.

Here is yet another point about the symbolism in an article by Bishop Olmsted, which is sadly no longer available online from The Catholic Sun where it first appeared. I have never seen the symbolism mentioned anywhere else.

Nine heart-shaped flower blossoms decorate the tunic worn by Our Lady of Guadalupe, surrounding her hands, which are gently folded in prayer. This artistic technique told the Native peoples that the Virgin Mary was holding hearts in her maternal hands, protecting them from harm. This image mesmerized them as they gazed with awe and wonder at the sight. It filled them with new hope at a time when they teetered on the edge of despair. Why?

Hearts, they had thought, were what you offered to the gods in order to restore harmony in the world. In their own practice of human sacrifice, hearts were torn out of victims, usually enemies captured in battle, and then offered as a peace offering. But that effort to win peace with their “gods” had failed to save them from defeat by the Conquistadors. Worse, after the conquest, they no longer knew how to pray or even to whom to pray.

But then, Our Lady of Guadalupe came to them, gently holding their hearts in her hands. Harmony, they realized, was again possible! Her hands held their hearts just above the divine Child in her womb, the One whose Sacred Heart conquers violence and restores peace to the world.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Read about the structure in a wonderful post at Mexico Bob

Be sure also to check out this fantastic book Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love. It is chock full of good information about more symbolism and how Our Lady of Guadalupe relates to our lives today.

Merry Christmas, Texas Style

Jason Merlo, photographer
Texas yucca and red oak saplings - Burnet County, Texas

It's how we show our Christmas spirit.

Beyond the Manger by Robert J. Daly SJ

This is a book that surprised me. I'm glad I gave it a chance. Following the feasts of Christmas, the author imagines the reactions of characters who encountered the Holy Family at the first Christmas. This is done in narrative, free form poems which usually are the sort of thing that I don't like, but the author makes the voices real enough that they just read like stories.

What I really enjoyed was the different characters like the camel driver for the wise men, the innkeeper's daughter or the drifter. Each one we meet has been drawn in by Mary's smile or Joseph's eyes or the baby, of course. Occasionally, we encounter a character further on as a peripheral figure in someone else's story, which caused me a delightful jolt of recognition. There are some memories from Mary and Joseph as well, which also pleased me because they weren't the sort of sentimental material that I usually avoid. They felt genuine.

That's how this whole book feels — genuine. It pulls us into the Christ child's story in a way I hadn't come across before. Recommended.

A Touch of Winter

A Touch of Winter, by our favorite - Remo Savisaar

Whispers of Mary: What Twelve Old Testament Women Teach Us About Mary by Gayle Somers

Throughout the history of the Bible, incredible women have played a part in the story of salvation. Steeped in Scripture, the Blessed Mother would have known and pondered the stories of these women. She might even have recognized pieces of her own story in theirs.

Whispers of Mary invites Catholics to explore Marian typology through the lives of women like Eve, Esther, and Judith. With thought-provoking commentary and hundreds of Scripture verses, Whispers of Mary deepens readers' appreciation for the story of salvation by revealing how even in the Old Testament, the lives of heroic women pointed toward Mary, and through Mary, to God.

This was a really good look at the precursors to Mary in Scripture. The 12 women highlighted were familiar to me but the author almost always found something new to consider, quite often because of a close reading of text I just hadn't noticed. I especially appreciated the way thar Somers gave context for each woman's place in salvation history. I also really enjoyed the last chapter about Mary which considered how she might have been influenced by her own scripture knowledge showing echoes of their stories in her own life. That hadn't occurred to me before.

I didn't always agree with Somers's points, for example the absolutism of "never tell a lie" brought up when looking at Judith but there weren't a lot of those moments. To be fair, it did spark a household discussion of the topic ranging from St. Augustine to Corrie ten Boom's experiences in The Hiding Place. So, that in itself had value.

I also never use discussion questions but did note that these seemed more salient than most. None of them were interesting to me but I think a lot of women would find them fruitful.

Recommended.

First Communion - Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso. First Communion. 1895-96.
via My Daily Art Display

Of course, the big surprise in this painting is not the subject matter, though I really love the piece. It is the artist. This is from Pablo Picasso's early years. My Daily Art Display has more information about Picasso during that time.