MERCY

January 18, 2016, 11:18 am

Soliloquy translation from "The Merchant of Venice" Act4 - Wm. Shakespeare:
The quality of mercy is not strained: it drops on to the world as the gentle rain does – from heaven. It’s doubly blessed. It blesses both the giver and the receiver. It’s most powerful when granted by those who hold power over others. It’s more important to a monarch than his crown. His sceptre shows the level of his temporal power – the symbol of awe and majesty in which lies the source of the dread and fear that kings command. But mercy is above that sceptered power. It’s enthroned in the hearts of kings. It is an attribute of God himself. And earthly power most closely resembles God’s power when justice is guided by mercy. Therefore , although justice is your aim, think about this: none of us would be saved if we depended on justice alone. We pray for mercy and, in seeking it ourselves, we learn to be merciful.

What is MERCY? We need to delve a bit deeper into the etymology of this word to understand its full meaning. There are several Hebrew words that are associated with God's mercy:

Kapporeth – means "ransom,""propitiatory," or "the mercy seat."
Racham – means "to love,""to have compassion," or "to show mercy."

Hesed – means "goodness,""kindness,""mercifulness," or "loving-kindness. Hesed is one of my favorite Hebrew words, as it denotes the Convenant between God and His people. From this comes the Latin translation by St. Jerome, misericordia, from whence we get the word piety. So often people misconstrue piety as some sort of sweet pious nonsense, when in actuality it has a much richer meaning, one we all need to pray for.

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MERCY IN EUROPE

January 22, 2016, 1:32 pm

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The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) referred to a voluntary unit providing field nursing services, mainly in hospitals, in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire.

The VAD system was founded in 1909 with the help of the Red Cross and Order of St. John. By the summer of 1914 there were over 2,500 Voluntary Aid Detachments in Britain. Of the 74,000 VAD members in 1914, two-thirds were women and girls.

At the outbreak of the First World War VAD members eagerly offered their service to the war effort. The British Red Cross was reluctant to allow civilian women a role in overseas hospitals: most volunteers were of the middle and upper classes and unaccustomed to hardship and traditional hospital discipline. Military authorities would not accept VADs at the front line.

Katharine Furse took two VADs to France in October 1914, restricting them to serve as canteen workers and cooks. Caught under fire in a sudden battle the VADs were pressed into emergency hospital service and acquitted themselves well. The growing shortage of trained nurses opened the door for VADs in overseas military hospitals. Furse was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the detachments and restrictions were removed. Female volunteers over the age of twenty-three and with more than three months' hospital experience were accepted for overseas service.

VADs were an uneasy addition to military hospitals' rank and order. They lacked the advanced skill and discipline of professional trained nurses and were often critical of the nursing profession. Relations improved as the war stretched on: VAD members increased their skill and efficiency and trained nurses were more accepting of the VADs' contributions. During four years of war 38,000 VADs worked in hospitals and served as ambulance drivers and cooks. VADs served near the Western Front and in Mesopotamia and Gallipoli. VAD hospitals were also opened in most large towns in Britain. Later, VADs were also sent to the Eastern Front. They provided an invaluable source of bedside aid in the war effort. Many were decorated for distinguished service.

BBC's recent series CRIMSON FIELD is the story of World War I’s front line medics and of their their hopes, fears, triumphs and tragedies. In a tented field hospital on the coast of France, a team of doctors, nurses and women volunteers work together to heal the bodies and souls of men wounded in the trenches. The hospital is a frontier, between the battlefield and home front, but also between the old rules, hierarchies, class distinctions and a new way of thinking.

Cast of Crimson Field

The girls who volunteer for duty are flung head first into a world for which nothing and nobody could have prepared them, but it is also an opportunity to break free of the constraints and limitations of their lives back home.

One certainly gets a sense of history during war time in these series, and while this one is not as exciting as the Anzac, it is worth watching.

Some famous women who volunteered their services as VADs:
Amelia Earhart, Agatha Christie , Enid Bagnold (author of the novel National Velvet), and Freya Stark, explorer and travel writer.

Olive Dent's memoir is a fascinating period piece, a rare first-hand account of this little-known story, which will resonate very strongly with viewers of The Crimson Field.

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MERCIFUL NURSE

January 26, 2016, 9:44 am

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In the last episode of "Crimson Field" there is a passing reference of a nurse being executed for treason. At the end of this series, it mentions it is dedicated to the memory of EDITH CAVELL. Of course I had to look up who she was.

Edith Louisa Cavell (1865-1915) was a British nurse. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and in helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage. Edith, who was 49 at the time of her execution, was already notable as a pioneer of modern nursing in Belgium.

Edith (Center) with nurses she trained

There were posters all over Brussels warning that, "Any male or female who hides an English or French soldier in his house shall be severely punished." In spite of this warning, there were soon successful efforts to hide soldiers who were wounded or separated from their units, then given refuge and helped to escape to safety. In Edith's hospital, wounded Allied soldiers were tended and then helped to escape.

Soon Edith was persuaded to make room for some of the unfortunates who were not wounded but merely fleeing the Germans. They too were helped to get to places where they could rejoin Allied forces. The Germans became more watchful of the comings and goings at the hospital and Edith was warned by friends that she was suspected of hiding soldiers and helping them escape. But her strong feelings of compassion and patriotism overruled the warnings and she continued to do what she thought was her duty.

On 15 August 1915, as was almost inevitable, she was arrested by the German police and charged with assisting the enemy. The Germans suspected that not only were she and others helping Allied soldiers but that the same communication lines were used to divulge German military plans - a serious charge indeed.

Edith was held incommunicado for ten weeks. Brand Whitlock, the American minister to Belgium, was refused permission to see her.
Even her appointed defense lawyer, Sadi Kirchen (a Brussels attorney), was not allowed to see her until 7 October, the day her trial began. Thirty-four others were accused of the same crime and were tried as a group. Several of the accused were friends of Edith's who had worked with her in helping the Allied soldiers.

The trial lasted only two days. Each person was accused of aiding the enemy and was told that, if found guilty, would be sentenced to death for treason. Edith's lawyer was eloquent in her defense, saying that she had acted out of compassion for others. Edith openly admitted that she had helped as many as 200 men to escape, who she knew they could then be able to fight the Germans again, and that some of them had written letters of thanks for her help. This was enough to cause her to be judged guilty and the sentence to be executed.

The final judgment was postponed for three days and during that time desperate attempts were made to save her. The American legation petitioned the German authorities in Brussels. A group composed of M. de Leval, the Belgian councilor to the American Legation; Hugh Gibson, secretary to the American Legation; and the Marquis de Villalobar, the Spanish minister to Belgium, made a hurried visit to the political governor of Brussels, Baron von der Lancken. He listened to their pleas but said that he could not reverse the court's decision. Only the military governor, Von Sauberzweig, had such authority. But even he, after being reached by phone, said that the sentence had to be carried out. In despair, the three men left they could do no more.

On 11 October the prison chaplain, the Rev. Gahan, visited Edith and found her resigned to her fate. She told him. "I want my friends to know that I willingly give my life for my country. I have no fear nor shirking. I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me." Even the German chaplain praised her for being "brave and bright to the last." On the morning of 12 October Edith Cavell and Philippe Baucq were taken to the Tir National, the Brussels firing range. At 7 a.m. both lay dead in the morning sun.

Her death provoked international condemnation, with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writing: "Everybody must feel disgusted at the barbarous actions of the German soldiery in murdering this great and glorious specimen of womanhood."

Edith, who was 49 at the time of her execution, was already notable as a pioneer of modern nursing in Belgium. But there is more to the story!

New evidence reveals Edith Cavell's resistance network was sending secret intelligence to the British.

Recent exploration of the military archives in Belgiumshow Edith Cavell’s organization was a two-pronged affair" and that espionage was the other part of its clandestine mission.

The Belgian archives contain reports and first-hand testimonies collected at the end of the First World War. In “Secrets and Spies: The Untold Story of Edith Cavell”, historian Dr Jim Beach said military espionage was in its infancy at the beginning of the First World War, and Cavell's associates were amateurs.

While we may never know how much Edith knew of the espionage carried out by her network, she was known to use secret messages, and we know that key members of her network were in touch with Allied intelligence agencies.

According to Julian Hendy, producer of the documentary: "Cavell was certainly not a naive woman - her shrewd testimony before her German interrogators proved that. As so many leading members of the network were involved in espionage, it would have been truly extraordinary for her to have been completely unaware of the intelligence-gathering.

"The story we have always been led to believe – of a simple nurse just doing her duty helping soldiers – turns out to have been a lot more complicated, nuanced, and dangerous than we had ever previously thought."

She is well known for her statement that "patriotism is not enough". Her strong Anglican beliefs propelled her to help all those who needed it, both German and Allied soldiers.

She was quoted as saying, "I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved." The Church of England commemorates her in their Calendar of Saints on 12 October.

Brian Whelan for Exhibition of 100 Ann. of her death (2015)

Monument in London

Monument in Norwich

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MOTHER OF MERCY

January 30, 2016, 6:06 pm

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Ravensburg, Germany

The VIRGIN OF MERCYis a subject in Christian Art, showing a group of people sheltering for protection under the outspread cloak of the Virgin Mary. It was especially popular in Italy from the 13th to 16th centuries and is also found in other countries and later art, especially Catalonia and Latin America. In Italian it is known as the Madonna della Misericordia (Madonna of Mercy), in German as the Schutzmantelmadonna (Sheltering-cloak Madonna), in Spanish Virgen de la Merced or Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy), in French as the Vièrge au Manteauor Vierge de Miséricorde (Virgin with a cloak or Virgin of Mercy) and in Catalan as the Mare de Déu de la Mercè.

Usually the Virgin is standing alone, though if angels hold up the cloak, she is free to hold the infant Christ. The people sheltered normally kneel, and are shown usually at a much smaller scale. These may represent all members of Christian society, royalty with crowns, mitres and even a papal tiara of a pope. The subject was often commissioned by specific groups such as families, monasteries and abbeys or guilds.

Virgin with 3 Sts.- Maurico Garcia, 1750

The figures represent these specific groups, as shown by their dress, or by the 15th century individual portraits. The Franciscans were major in spreading this form of iconography. While this image of Mary was highly used in past ages, it is still seen in modern times (Alves) and perhaps would be a worthy subject in our world so in need of the Virgin's protection!

The liturgical feast day of Our Lady of Mercy is celebrated on September 24.

Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanks for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent! Receive our gratitude, and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven and enable them to make our peace with God.

D. Ghirlandaio- Italy 15th C.

Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God. May all who venerate you feel now your help and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray, and bring back to us the answers to our prayers. Make it your continual concern to pray for the people of God, foryou were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, who lives and reigns forever. Amen. St Augustine of Hippo

Fernando Alves- Brazil

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BIRDS IN A CAGE

February 4, 2016, 3:19 pm

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For Christmas I received some interesting books related to birds. One of my favorites is BIRDS IN A CAGEby Derek Niemann. Birding in the 1940s was not the popular passion it is today and field guides were not that common or were poorly done.

"In the summer of 1940, lying in the sun, I saw a family of redstarts, unconcerned in the affairs of our skeletal multitude, going about their ways in cherry and chestnut trees." Soon after his arrival at Warburg POW camp, British army officer John Buxton found an unexpected means of escape from the horrors of internment. Passing his days covertly watching birds, he was unaware that he, too, was being watched. Peter Conder, also a passionate ornithologist, noticed Buxton gazing skywards. He approached him and, with two other prisoners, they founded a secret birdwatching society.

Peter Conder

This is the amazing and inspiring story of an obsessive quest behind barbed wire. Through their shared love of birds, the four POWs overcame hunger, hardship, fear and boredom. Their quest would draw in not only their fellow prisoners, but also some of the German guards, at great risk to them all. Derek Niemann draws on original diaries, letters and drawings, to tell of how four men were bonded by their wartime experience which propelled them into the giants of postwar wildlife conservation.

There were relatively few things that inmates could do, but each of them had noticed birds around the camp, and - despite the absence of binoculars - they had started to record what they saw. In particular they noticed the spring migration of 1942 with a daily log being kept of every bird seen over a period of almost two months. In addition Buxton focused his attention on the Common Redstart.

George Waterston

Their interest in birds attracted the attention of security guards who suspected them of plotting an escape plan. Some of the inmates thought that they were an odd group. All but Barrett were later moved south to another camp in a wooded valley at Eichstätt where Conder studied the Goldfinch and Waterson focused on the Wryneck (a type of woodpecker); the latter study totaling an astonishing 1200 hours of observation for him and his "assistants".

Eventually the men were split up before the War ended in 1945 but all returned home safely.

All wrote papers for British Birds at various times and each made his mark on bird study in a different way. By chance they each joined a different regiment in the Second World War, and by tragic coincidence, all found themselves imprisoned at different places during that war, having been captured in Germany, Norway, France, and Greece respectively.

John Barrett

In their own ways each of the four men went on to make their own impressions on the world of ornithology and bird conservation. John Buxton became a teacher and academic and wrote up his studies of the Common Redstart. John Barrett became the warden of Dale Fort Field Centre in Pembrokeshire (Wales) and wrote highly-popular guides to seashore wildlife. Peter Conder became the warden at nearby Skokholm, eventually joining the RSPB staff in 1954 and becoming its Director General. George Waterston also ended up on the RSPB staff and is widely accepted as the man who made sure that the Osprey was successfully reintroduced to Scotland in the 1950s.

Peter Conder

The great value of this book is that it brings together the story of what these men experienced. These are stories that have rarely been told, as each of them remained relatively tight-lipped about their experiences - even to close family.

All four died a long time before Derek Niemann had the idea for this book, but despite having never met any of them he has brought to life their different attitudes and experiences with great ease.
Their legacy lives on. A good read- even for the non-birders!

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MERCY STREET

February 7, 2016, 9:50 am

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It amazes me how in the literary world themes go in cycles. Within the past few years there has been a run on books relating to WWII especially people who helped saved the Jews and others escaping Nazi terrorism.

At present the theme is nursing on the battlefields of past wars, and in keeping with our YEAR of MERCY theme I have presented some well known and lesser known books and TV series about the women who bravely volunteered.

This year we have MERCY STREETa PBS American period medical drama television series. It is set during the Civil War and follows two volunteer nurses from opposing sides- New England abolitionist Mary Phinney and Confederate supporter Emma Green. I find the acting for the most part poorly done, but the history is interesting.

Mary, a widow, is sent as new head nurse to an Alexandria (VA) hotel owned by the Southern Green family which is repossessed as a Union military hospital, much to the family's disliking.
Inspired by memoirs and letters from real doctors and nurse volunteers at Mansion House Hospital, this new drama reveals the stories of those struggling to save lives while managing their own hardships.

Annie Bell- Note they did wear their long dresses

To depict a realistic and accurate account of this era, the writers and producers collaborated with historians and medical experts, including James M. McPherson who is an American Civil War historian who received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom. Shauna Devine, who wrote Women at the Front:Hospital Workers in Civil War America was also an advisor.

Interesting to note from her work as many as 20,000 women worked in Union and Confederate hospitals during America's bloodiest war. The women were black and white, and from all social classes, serving as nurses, administrators, matrons, seamstresses, cooks, laundresses, and custodial workers.

Field Hospital

Military protocol and society "correctness" banned women from field hospitals, thus nursing duties continued to be assigned to men. But with the increasing numbers of casualties and the overburdening of facilities, gender-related strictures on nursing broke down and spurred the nation’s women into taking immediate and decisive action to help correct the situation. Leave it to women!

We saw in a past Blog how religious orders sent trained nurses to staff field hospitals near the front. Within a few months of the war’s onset, some 600 women were serving as nurses in 12 hospitals.

Nuns who volunteered

There is very little written record of their service though a few of the more famous names left accounts, including Louisa May Alcott, Jane Stuart Woolsey (widow of a prominent industrialist) and Katherine Prescott Wormeley, who with noted landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted and the Rev. Henry Bellows, played a role in the work of the United States Sanitary Commission, a civilian agency set up to coordinate the volunteer efforts of women and men who wanted to contribute to the war effort. The Commission was a volunteer affiliate of the Union Army.

At the beginning of the war, nurses were merely volunteers who showed up at military hospitals. But after Battle of Bull Run, Clara Barton and Dorethea Dix organized a nursing corps to help care for the wounded soldiers. Clara established an agency to supply soldiers and worked in many battles, often behind the lines, delivering care to wounded soldiers on both sides.

The Sanitary Commission

One critic of this new TV series stated that women of this period did not speak out as it was not "lady-like", so he felt in part the series did not ring true. He must not have read of Dorothea Dix

and all she did in the Civil War to help the wounded. In April 1861, Dorothea assembled a group of volunteer female nurses, staging a march on Washington, demanding that the government recognize their desire to aid the Union’s wounded. Throughout her life Dorothea begged biographers to de-emphasize her Civil War years. But in 1983, long after she was dead and could not protest the well-deserved honor, she was featured on a U.S. postage stamp.

These women may have lacked professional training but they labored tirelessly to bring aid and comfort to the sick and wounded soldiers on both sides of the fighting.

Mansion House

Women on the battle front

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HOLY SATURDAY THROUGH OUR LIFE

February 12, 2016, 10:01 am

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Boris Ansfeld- Russia

In this YEAR of MERCYI want to take another look at Lent, especially in Holy Week. It seems to me that during Lent, we have always been focused on walking with Jesus in His Passion. We almost race thru HOLY SATURDAY in our hurry to get to Easter, thus by-passing a very important mystery, and one I want to emphasize this Lent - that of the Descent from the Cross and the Lamentation of the Women. This Lent, we need to find the ways we can be present to Christ, in others, as we help them in their suffering into a new life.

After the mystery of Holy Thursday and the sorrow of Good Friday comes the silence of Holy Saturday. On this day the Church watches. She waits. The stone has been rolled over the entrance of the tomb and the guards stand watch lest the body of Jesus be stolen.

Lamentation-Judyta Bil- Canada

Holy Saturday is the space of unknowing, of holding death and life in tension. By being present to Jesus on this day we may more readily be able to help others who are perhaps more disoriented in this fast-paced modern world in loss and darkness than ourselves. Holy Saturday is the quiet, silence and darkness before we can really experience the light of our risen Christ.

Holy Saturday is perhaps the day we live most through the year. It is the day of hope- not the miracle of the Holy Thursday, not the tragedy of Good Friday and not the joy that is so overwhelming in the Resurrection. Rather it is day which is transition between sorrow and joy, pain and death. Since much of our lives rest in that space between loss and hope, our lives are full of Holy Saturday experiences.

Lamentation- Fernando Alves- Brazil

What I love about so many of the modern scenes depicting Holy Saturday, is the lack of people- the masters tended to add what looks like a whole town, when this should be a quiet, pensive time. Holy Saturday is all about the fallen Christ and his Mother and the few that hung around- not the masses who condemned Him.

While some of these artists may not be as "great" as the Masters, I feel through colors and lines, they portray as much emotion if not more than past artists and in many cases through their own "passion".

The Entombment of Christ- F. Alves

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LAMENTATIONS

February 19, 2016, 12:01 pm

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Angeles Ballester- Spain

Alena Antonova

A common theme in many religious paintings, the 'Lamentation Over the Dead Christ' is not a Biblical theme at all. It does not appear in any of the New Testament gospels, and only emerged as a devotional image during the 11th century. Famous Lamentations include those by Giotto , Botticelli, Carracci, and Rubens.

As the depiction of the Passion of Christ increased in complexity towards the end of the first millennium, a number of scenes were developed covering the period between the death of Jesus on the Cross and his being placed in his tomb.

The accounts in the Gospels concentrate on the roles of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, but specifically mention Mary and Mary Magdalene as present. The Deposition of Christ, where the body is being taken down from the cross, shown almost always in a vertical or diagonal position still off the ground, was the first scene to be developed, appearing first in late 9th century Byzantine art, and soon after in Ottonian miniatures. The bearing of the Body, showing Jesus' body being carried by Joseph, Nicodemus and sometimes others, initially was the image covering the whole period between Deposition and Entombment, and remained usual in the Byzantine world.

The Entombment of Jesus, showing the lowering of Christ's body into the tomb, was a Western innovation of the late 10th century; tombs cut horizontally into a rock face being unfamiliar in Western Europe, usually a stone sarcophagus or a tomb cut down into a flat rock surface is shown.

Jean Pollet - France

From these different images another type, the Lamentation itself, arose from the 11th century, always giving a more prominent position to Mary, who either holds the body, and later has it across her lap, or sometimes falls back in a state of collapse as Joseph and others hold the body. In a very early Byzantine depiction of the 11th century, a scene of this type is placed just outside the mouth of the tomb, but around the same time other images place the scene at the foot of the empty cross - in effect relocating it in both time (to before the bearing, laying-out and anointing of the body) as well as space. This became the standard scene in Western Gothic art, and even when the cross is subsequently seen less often, the landscape background is usually retained.

Most Lamentations focus on the passionate grief being expressed by the mourners.

Lyuba Yatskiv -Ukraine

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that, "It is the mystery of Holy Saturday, when Christ, lying in the tomb, reveals God's great sabbath rest after the fulfillment of man's salvation, which brings peace to the whole universe" and that "Christ's stay in the tomb constitutes the real link between his passible state before Easter and his glorious and risen state today."

Paul Aizpiri - France

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LENTEN "SAINT"

February 22, 2016, 11:39 am

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I recently came across and interesting but unknown woman who Blessed Teresa of Calcutta called her "Spiritual Powerhouse." JACQUELINE de DECKERwas a social worker born in Belgium to one of Antwerp's most influential families- one of nine children. She had a great desire to work with Mother Teresa and in 1947 walked half way across India to join, the as yet, little known nun and her order of Missionaries of Charity.

But the Lord had other plans for her and a chronic, debilitating illness forced her to return to Antwerp for what she thought would be a brief treatment. It was discovered that she had a severe disease of the spine which would necessitate a number of operations. By 1980, Jacqueline had undergone thirty-four operations for her illness, which was never given an official medical label. She called it GGD, or 'God-Given Disease'.

The news of her future was so dreadful to her that she contemplated suicide, but in the autumn of 1952 she received a letter from Mother Teresa:

'Today I am going to propose something to you. You have been longing to be a missionary. Why not become spiritually bound to our society which you love so dearly? While we work in the slums, you share in the prayers and the work with your suffering and your prayers. The work here is tremendous and needs workers, it is true, but I also need souls like yours to pray and suffer. '

Jacqueline took up the task of promoting this apostolate of prayer and self-offering among the sick, linking each person who became a “Sick and Suffering Co-Worker” with an individual Missionary of Charity. From the beginning of her work, Mother Teresa welcomed and sought the help of lay persons.

M Fida-Husain (India)

Eventually those attracted to her and her work formed a group called the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa. Coming from all religions, nations and walks of life, these men and women share in Mother Teresa’s aim to quench the thirst of God for love and souls by seeking to give Him their love and to bring His love to every person with whom they have contact, especially the poorest of the poor, and, above all, those most needy in their own families.

As the number of Missionaries of Charity grew to over two thousand so too did the number of sick and suffering co-workers.

From her home in Antwerp Jacqueline managed to co-ordinate the Link for the sick and suffering, as well as look after the welfare of some 2,000 prostitutes.

" Everyone and anyone who wishes to become a Missionary of Charity, as carrier of God's love is welcome. But I want especially the paralyzed, the crippled, the incurables to join, for I know that they will bring many souls to the feet of Jesus. The Sisters and the Brothers will each have a co-worker who prays, suffers, thinks, writes to her/him and so have a "second self". We shall be able to do great things for the love of Him, because of you." (Mother Teresa)

M.F. Husain (India)

More of her life can be read in Kathryn Spink's Autobiography of Mother Teresa.

Jacqueline De Decker died on Friday, April 3, 2009. I am sure she is counted among the saints, many who suffer for the souls of others, many we will never know about!

M. F. Husain (India)

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HOLY SATURDAY

February 24, 2016, 9:07 am

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Oswaldo Guayasamin- Ecuador

V. Perlrott-Csaba (Hungary1912)

On HOLY SATURDAY, there is no liturgy at all. The Church wants us to have a day of quiet and reflection on what happened yesterday. But tonight, this vigil of the Resurrection, we will gather in darkness, a darkness that represents all that we should have been reflecting on after Jesus' death. And in that darkness, a fire is lit, which represents for us Christ our Light. We can rejoice that death has no final victory over us.

Death is very real and its approach holds great power in our lives. But today is a day to put aside the blinders we have about the mystery of death and our fear of it. The "good news" we are about to celebrate has no real power in our lives unless we have faced the reality of death. (St. Benedict tells us we must daily keep death before us- especially death to self). To contemplate Jesus' body, there in that tomb, is to look our death in the face.

Slav Krivoshiev - Bulgaria

As we behold the body of Jesus in the tomb today, and as we contemplate the mystery of our death, we prepare our hearts to receive the Good News of life. We know that tomb will be empty and remain empty forever as a sign that our lives will not really end, but only be transformed. One day, we will all rest in the embrace of Jesus, who knows our death, and who prepares a place for us in everlasting life.

France Kralj- Slovenia

Our reflection on this holy Saturday, and our anticipation of celebrating the gift of life on the vigil night, can bring immense peace and joy, powerful freedom and vitality to our lives. If we truly believe that death holds no true power over us, we can walk each day in the grace being offered us.

Ivanka Dymyd- Ukraine

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TWO HOLY SATURDAY MEN

February 27, 2016, 10:30 am

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Africa

Why is the burial narration so important in the life of Jesus? It proves that Jesus was buried by not one but two influential, respected men who could testify to His death.

His death could also be verified by the Galilean women who prepared Jesus' body for burial since they were well-known and trusted by the disciples of Jesus. These witnesses would be important so that the first Christians could not be accused of concocting the story of the Resurrection.
Who were these important men who buried Jesus?

First we have Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a rich, influential man, a member of the Sanhedrin. He is described as ‘looking for the Kingdom of God’, and perhaps believed he had found it in Jesus. Mark's gospel says Joseph had to 'gather up his courage' to ask for Jesus' body. It was risky for him to defend or protect Jesus as it could have serious consequences in his social, religious and political life.

Entombment of Christ- Fernando Botero (Columbia)

"Now there was a man named Joseph . He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their purpose and deed, and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid; then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment." Luke 23:50-56

Nicodemus brought spices for the burial, powdered myrrh and aloes, about 70lbs in modern weight, a very costly amount. There is no explanation as to why he gave so much. But John tells us Nicodemus came to hear Jesus under cover of darkness, as if he were afraid; perhaps he was now trying to make up for this fearfulness. So two men, who as far as we know have not been with Jesus in His three years of ministry, were the ones to come through at the end. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose but they stepped forward and arranged the burial.

Gwyneth Leech- NY

"Nicodemus also, who had at first come to him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there." John 19:39-42

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LENTEN ARTIST'S EXPERIENCE

March 2, 2016, 9:19 pm

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The Polish artist JACEK ROSSAKIEWICZ (b. 1956) said about his art: "In my understanding, to express man's spiritual life is to create art. The subject of the painting doesn’t matter. But the art has to originate in the inside, it has to be a result of man's life experiences. It cannot be simply planned; how to shock, how to draw attention to one's self, it cannot be done for money either. Because the spiritual and emotional state of an artist while painting, or working on a different work of art, is encoded in the painting and this energy is emanating from it."

Of his Passion cycle he writes: I chose the Gospel according to Saint John because of its description of the events after the Resurrection. As I was working on these paintings, my spiritual life was deepening. It was a personal, emotional experience. Without the faith these paintings would have never come into being. This was a testimony of my faith and a desire to provide a testimony of adoration for Jesus.

Everyone knows that the Way of the Cross ends with the Deposition. It ends with the most pessimistic moment in Jesus' life and in the history of Christianity.

It is painted in the green tones but here it is an earthy green - green ground. This greenness is muted. It is visible that Jesus is dead. There is no life in Him anymore.

Of his "Pieta":
The painting became a depiction of total destruction. The paint was scraped off and burnt. A black abyss was created and it is the main theme of this painting. This black abyss, such a painting of total destruction is for me - with regard to spirituality - a reflection of our times. In my opinion such destruction is taking place right now.

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PIETA

March 5, 2016, 9:10 pm

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Charles Ricketts (d. 1931) English

Lamentations did not appear in art north of the Alps until the 14th century, but then became very popular there, and northern versions further developed the centrality of Mary to the composition. The typical position of Christ's body changes from being flat on the ground or slab, usually seen in profile across the center of the work, to the upper torso being raised by Mary or others, and finally being held in a near-vertical position, seen frontally, or across Mary's lap. Mary Magdalene typically holds Jesus' feet.

Pieta- Lazar Vozarevic- Belgrade (b. 1925)

In fully populated Lamentations the figures shown with the body include The Three Marys, John the Apostle, Joseph and Nicodemus, and often others of both sexes, not to mention angels and donor portraits As time went on the artists concentrated on Mary's grief for her son, with less narrative emphasis and the outcome of this trend was the Pietà, showing just these two figures, which was especially suitable for sculpture, the most famous of course is Michelangelo's.

Van Gogh

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MARY- THE CHURCH'S HOPE

March 11, 2016, 3:57 pm

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Patricia Trudeau (New York)

HOLY SATURDAY has been called the "Second Sabbath" after creation. The day should be the most calm and quiet day of the entire Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function. Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns. After the great battle He is resting in peace, but upon Him we see the scars of intense suffering...The mortal wounds on His Body remain visible. Even His enemies are cautious, attempting to obliterate any

Mary and the disciples are grief-stricken, while the Church must mournfully admit that too many of her children return home from Calvary cold and hard of heart. When Mother Church reflects upon all of this, it seems as if the wounds of her dearly Beloved were again beginning to bleed.

According to tradition, the entire body of the Church is represented in Mary: she is the "credentium collectio universa". Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she waits near the Lord's tomb, is an icon of the Virgin Church keeping vigil at the tomb of her Spouse while awaiting the celebration of His resurrection.

Grunewald- Isenheim Altarpiece, Colmar, France

While the body of her Son lays in the tomb and His soul has descended to the dead to announce liberation from the shadow of darkness to His ancestors, the Blessed Virgin Mary, foreshadowing and representing the Church, awaits, in faith, the victorious triumph of her Son over death.

Although we are still in mourning, there is much preparation during this day to prepare for Easter.
On Holy Saturday we remember Christ in the tomb, in silence, with hope.

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DEATH IN LENT

March 16, 2016, 4:09 pm

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Flowers in the desert

Death of any kind is rarely a welcome experience. You would think we would be used to it watching nature year after year resurrect into glorious spring, after the death of winter. On the farm, we witness death as animals are slaughtered to provide food, or a beloved animal or pet dies. For some reason it seems to happen more frequently in Lent and for some reason it is harder to bear, perhaps because we do not look forward to Holy Week and Passion.

We resist death, trying to numb ourselves from life's inevitable stripping away of our earthly "security". But when we turn to face death honestly, we feel the fullness of the grief it brings and we slowly begin to discover the new life awaiting us.

Aidan with LaRen & her first lamb- 8 years ago

Rather than a presence only at the end of our lives, death can become a companion along each step, heightening our awareness of life’s beauty and calling us toward living more fully. St. Benedict tells us we should keep death daily before our eyes... death to sin, death to our old ways, and death which brings us home to eternal life.

Two animals died last week, my oldest and favorite ewe (after the gate was left open last year and the ram got her). Father buried her under the fig tree. She left us with two beautiful black ewe lambs, which will be a reminder of her for many years to come.

A few days later one of the female llamas was found dead in the pasture. A gentle soul and the only female her mother (our first llama) ever gave us. We left her as food for the many eagles to have as a feast.

LaSeranada as a yearling

Such deaths make us ponder our own mortality and that Lent is a painful reminder of what (and whom) we lose to death. My brother died five years ago this month and it seems like yesterday.

We must remember Lent isn’t about Good Friday’s cross and loss, but Easter Sunday’s empty tomb.

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IN THE DARK CAVE

March 20, 2016, 5:50 pm

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Annibale Carracci- 16C. Italy

Most of us live, from time to time, in Holy Saturday. We experience the jubilation of Easter and the stark pain of Good Friday, but those are immediate and momentary. Holy Saturday is the time in between death and resurrection, fear and hope, pain and comfort. Holy Saturday is the valley of grief and uncertainty, for us and for Jesus' first disciples.

On Holy Saturday, we don't know what the future will bring. Like those first women on that first Holy Saturday, we live with an uncertain future.

While Holy Saturday is a day of quiet and silence, it is difficult for us to experience Holy Saturday during Holy Week. Holy Saturday speaks most directly to the daily reality of our lives. After the shock of death or words that bring despair we have to begin living with the "what next?" as we enter the void of unknowing.

Between the great dramas of life, there is almost always a time of empty waiting . If we are willing to rest in this Sabbath, we may come as close to Jesus as we get through the rest of the year. There in that quiet cave where we wait to see how our redeemer will choose to come to us in the dark.

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DEATH AND NEW LIFE ON HOLY THURSDAY

March 25, 2016, 10:00 am

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It has been a bad few weeks at the monastery with the death of a beloved ewe, a female llama, from our beloved "Mamma Llama", and on Holy Thursday we lost one of our Jersey cows (Lucina) after she gave birth to a lovely, healthy heifer calf.

Our Dutch intern Marijke with twin ewe lambs from La Ren (who died)- Photo intern David
Lambs thriving on Jersey milk

This morning we learned that friends who were here for the Last Supper Meal and Mass gave us a check to purchase another Jersey. The Lord takes away but gives in abundance. We all look forward with great longing to the feast of Easter and the joys it brings.

Intern David with happy lamb!

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SILENCE ON EARTH

March 26, 2016, 9:53 am

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Louisa Jenkins- Mt. Angel OR

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and He has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, He has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, He who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him, Adam, the first man He had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying:

“Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light".

From an Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

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THE EMPTY TOMB - ALLELUIA

March 27, 2016, 2:36 pm

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Camaroon, Africa

''When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ''Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?'' But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.'' Mark 16:1-4

The spirits of the women (notice no men came) had been crushed by the passion and death of Jesus. They were discouraged, disheartened, and defeated.

Two of these women, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, had seen where the body had been placed and knew that a huge stone had been rolled across the entrance to the tomb, so as they approached the gravesite they remembered the stone and realized that they couldn't move it on their own. Yet they continued on, with hope someone would be there to help.

We all have stones placed over our path to happiness and obstacles to joy. Yet once again as we celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior, we are reminded that only He can bring us true joy and true happiness, removing the obstacles of sin and suffering, which block our hearts from Him.

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DO NOT.....

March 29, 2016, 7:19 pm

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Jesus in the Garden with Mary Magdalene
Donald Jackson- St. John's Bible

THE RISEN ONE

Until his final hour he had never
refused her anything or turned away,
lest she should turn their love to public praise.
Now she sank down beside the cross, disguised,
heavy with the largest stones of love
like jewels in the cover of her pain.

But later, when she came back to his grave
with tearful face, intending to anoint,
she found him resurrected for her sake,
saying with greater blessedness, “Do not –”

She understood it in her hollow first:

how with finality he now forbade
her, strengthened by his death, the oils’ relief
or any intimation of a touch:

because he wished to make of her the lover
who needs no more to lean on her beloved,
as, swept away by joy in such enormous
storms, she mounts even beyond his voice.

Rainer Maria Rilke, New Poems, Second Part, 1908)
(translation, Ann Conrad Lammers, 1998)

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