THE GOOD SHEPHERD

 

This Sunday is known as GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY because, in each year of the liturgical cycle on this 4th Sunday of Easter, the Gospel of  John  is read where Jesus speaks of Himself as the "Good Shepherd".

There is a wonderful story of a young Scottish clergyman who took the much-loved 23rd Psalm as the subject of a talk to a group of children. There was a lot they didn't know, he told them. In fact they were pretty much like sheep themselves and, of course, sheep need a shepherd. He then asked the children who they thought the shepherd was, and after thinking about it a little while, one lad piped up, "Jesus is the shepherd." The young minister looked taken aback. "Then who am I?", he asked the child. "Oh, you're the sheep-dog; there's only one shepherd."

The Ancient Israelites were a pastoral people and there were many shepherds among them.  Many Old Testament heroes were shepherds, among them the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, the twelve tribes,  Moses, and King David. In the New Testament, angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds, not to any of the rulers, religious leaders or rich people.

Where did Jesus get this notion of Good Shepherd?  'Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it.  As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep.  I shall raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and put him in charge of them to pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd.    Ezekiel 34:11-12 & 23

 While sheep have many positive qualities, they also have a bad reputation for being rather stupid  because of their tendency to follow each other in what seems like pointless wandering.  Sheep  actually  have about the same intelligence as  cows and just a little less smarter than pigs, who we know are smarter than most dogs. Sheep group together because they are social animals and they can protect themselves better when they stick together.  They’re not really dumb, they just have a hard time protecting themselves without a shepherd.

It often amazes me when I hear bishops and priests giving homilies about sheep and shepherds. Believe me, they are clueless about these beasties as is anyone who has not had the joy (and pains) of raising them. The good shepherd knows his sheep and they know him. I can be away for some days and the Community never hears the sheep, but when I step out of the car and call, they all bleat.

I have often thought it amazing  that Jesus who called Himself our Good Shepherd became the Lamb of God.  "The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep."

Now may the God of peace–who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood– may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.(Hebrews 13:20-21)

All images  are by one of my favorite artists,  Sadao Watanabe  a Japanese printmaker (1913-1996). He was famous for his biblical prints rendered in the mingei (folk art) tradition of Japan. His father died when he was ten years old. He dropped out of school at an early age and became an apprentice in a dyer's shop. A Christian woman in his neighborhood invited the fatherless boy to attend church with her. At the age of seventeen, Sadao was baptized. 

Sadao used kozo paper (from mulberry tree) and momigami (kneaded paper). The momigami paper was crumpled by hand, squeezed and wrinkled to give a rough quality to the prints. The katazome method uses traditional organic and mineral pigments in a medium of soybean milk. The protein in the milk bound the colors to the paper's surface. The use of natural materials is one of the characteristics of mingei (folk art).

DOUBTS IN THE RESURRECTED LIFE

 

Did you ever wonder where Thomas was when the other apostles were in the “locked” room?  Maybe he was out getting supplies?  Wherever he was, he did return to the room, so he could not have gone too far or for too long.

 And strangely, even after Jesus appeared the first time in that room, they were still shut in?  So did they have the faith we think they had?  Were they really any better than Thomas?  There still seems to me to be some fear, some doubt, some hesitation, and faith?   

Jesus in His second appearance in that locked room, shows the disciples that there is no hiding from Him. He meets His friends when they seek to hide, and He challenges their faith and prepares them for the coming of His Spirit and for their life ahead- for many it will end in their own violent death, but with the promise of new life in Him.

Why did Jesus make that second appearance in the locked room?  Was it only for Thomas, or was it to give His followers throughout the ages and example?

No matter who you are, or what your calling, there will be moments, times, when there is doubt. And Jesus shows us, through Thomas that it is all right, that if we return (to the room) we will once again find Him. And notice, Jesus did not rebuke Thomas, but rather allowed him to touch His wounds. He could see through Thomas’ unbelief, his greater desire to believe. “ Do not be unbelieving, but believing".

Jesus reminded Thomas and all his followers that, “because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This, of course, shows us the importance of faith in our lives today. 

The reversal of Thomas' doubt into faith led him to the clearest confession of Jesus's divinity, saying, "My Lord and my God."

Images:

    Top- Caravaggio (Italian- 1601)

    Right-  Sadao Watanabe (Japanese- d. 1996)

A POPULAR ROAD

 

Perhaps one of the most illustrated stories in our modern times, from the Gospels,  is the “Road to Emmaus”. I found images from across the globe- here are just a few.

Oh foolish foolish heart why do you grieve?
Here is good news and comfort to your soul:
Open your mind to scripture and believe
He bore the curse for you to make you whole
The living God was numbered with the dead
That He might bring you Life in broken bread.

Malcolm Guite - UK

                    

Images:

          Top- Arcabas- France

          Top left – Ceri Richards- Wales

          Top right- Jyodi Sahi- India

          Middle left-  Fransic Newton Souza – India

          Middle Right Ivo Saliger- Czech Republic

          Bottom – Dinah Roe Kendall - England

JESUS EATS

 

                                                    The supper at Emmaus- Caravaggio

Almost all of the post-resurrection appearances involve eating and food. In the days between the Resurrection and the Ascension, Jesus shows up at meals, sometimes even asking for food. And every time he does, there is a prayer.  "And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them."  (Luke 24:30)

"God raised Him on the third day and made Him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead." (Acts 10:40-41)

" Have you here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them". (Lk. 24:43) Jesus seems to be going out of His way to assure his friends that it was really He who was present; not a ghost or vision. It was he, fully alive and in the flesh and able to eat with them.

 The disciples must have been shocked  to see Jesus when He appears to them, but to calm them, He asks for food.  We know from our own experience that some the best memories we have are with family and friends over a good meal.

So Jesus lets them know He is still with them in body. The sight of our Lord eating was taken by them as a manifestation of the truth of the resurrection of the body.

Then there is the scene with Peter and other disciples after a long day of fishing. They see the risen Lord calling them from the shore. When they arrive, they find that He has cooked a breakfast of bread and fish for them and invites them to “Come, have breakfast.” How comforting!  

They who have lost their Lord,  who once gave them His own Body to eat, now cooks for them. He reassures them in this simple gesture of nourishment of body.

In His last meal before His death, Jesus gave His Apostles a direct command to insure that whenever they broke bread and drank of His cup, they did so remembering Him.

It is no different for us today. He longs to eat around that table with us every day/ week, as we partake of the Eucharist.  He continues to nourish our hearts until we too know resurrection.

 (Bottom Painting:  Kate Cosgrove)

EARTHDAY ICONS

 

 

Tomorrow is EARTHDAY and I found an amazing artist  to celebrate this day with her beautiful icons, featuring animals. ANGELA MANNO is an internationally exhibited artist and educator who has been exploring the pattern that connects personal and planetary healing for over thirty years. She studied Earth Literacy at Genesis Farm, an ecological learning center dedicated to understanding the Universe and Earth as a single, unfolding process, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in French and English from Bard College.

She studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, Parson’s School of Design and l’Ecole des Arts in Lacoste, France. She was trained by a contemporary master of batik, the late Jyotirindra Roy and studied the ancient liturgical art of Byzantine-Russian iconography.

 Her award-winning art resides in private collections throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia and in such prestigious venues as the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and museums from Mexico City to Moscow

 In 1988, Angela was commissioned by NASA to commemorate the U.S. return to space flight with the launch of Discovery, the first after the Challenger accident.  She is the only female visual artist selected for this honor.  Other artists to capture the novelty of space travel for the space agency include, Norman Rockwell, Robert Rauschenberg and James Wyeth.  Her artwork is part of the permanent NASA space art collection at the Kennedy Space Center.  

Her “Endangered Species,” a series of artworks of threatened and endangered species painted in the style of Byzantine icons, explores the environmental crisis and extinction. In an interview with Treehugger, Angela says, “I hope that my work conveys the feeling that all life is sacred. That my viewers feel remorse at the thoughtless decimation of species and habitat, and are moved to action to preserve what is left.”

In May 2022, Angela was commissioned by the Vatican Dicastery on Integral Human Development to create an audio-visual program to open Laudato Si’ Week 2022, the seven-year anniversary of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking encyclical. The program, “Responding to the Cry of the Earth”, featured images from her series Contemporary Icons of Endangered Species and appeared on computer screens around the world as part of the global event “No More Biodiversity Collapse: Rebalancing Social Systems with Nature”. 

Icons: All egg tempera and gold leaf on wood

            Top- Chambered Nautilus

            Right- Honey Bee

            Left- Emperor Penguin

            Right- Marsupial Frog

SAINT TO SYRIA'S POOR

 

A woman I recently discovered, could become a patron of the poor of Syria, a county in much need of saints in this mostly Muslim country.

SOG MATILDE CHELHOT SALEM was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1904 to a wealthy family. She studied with the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who helped her develop an intense inner prayer life. 

In 1922, at the age 18, she married Georges Elias Salem, a wealthy businessman. Georges had an authoritarian and possessive character, but he was a good man and Matilde learned to be patient in times of difficult moments. Soon they discovered they could not have children, and Georges fell ill with diabetes. Matilde was close to her husband for 22 years. She loved him and took care of him, accompanying him on his business trips and participating in various negotiations. She was respected by the leaders of  great European companies.

Her husband, recommended by Archbishop Isidoro Fattal, Greek-Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Aleppo, dreamed of opening a vocational school that would form future Christian workers: but in 1944 Georges suddenly died.

Matilde could have made a new life for herself, but it was then that she discovered her true vocation: to dedicate herself totally to her neighbor with a greater love. She devoted herself completely to the project left in Georges' will by establishing and running the "Georges Salem Foundation", of which she was president.

Her family became the poor youth of the city, and she prepared herself to truly be their mother. In collaboration with Archbishop Fattal she went to Turin to deal directly with the Rector Major to entrust the work to Don Bosco's sons called there in 1947. She had a small house built near the Institute, and from now on, the Salesians would be her home and her family.

There she would lay her husbands remains and would herself be buried there. She became the “Mamma Margaret” (in reference to Venerable Mother Margaret Occhiena Bosco- the Mother of St. Don Bosco), of Aleppo's youngsters. She was enriched by various spiritual experiences: a Salesian cooperator, daughter of Saint Francis of Assisi, co-founder of the Work of Infinite Love. As for charity, there was no charitable institution that did not see her committed as a supporter: catechetical society, St. Vincent de Paul Conferences, summer camps for poor and abandoned children, vice-presidency of the Red Cross, Islamic charity, work for young delinquents.

On Pentecost Monday, May 26, 1958, she suffered from a hemorrhage while working in her garden. Her gynecologist said that it was due to a tumor. She was to be operated in Paris, but the disease grew so ravenous that the surgery had to take place in the USA to undergo cobalt radiation to treat the malignant proliferation of which was then diagnosed as cancer. In response to this diagnosis, she simply replied: "Thank you, my God."

The treatment was initially considered a success, which allowed her to return to her home that very same year. In March 1960 however, while slowly returning to her regular life of active service, the cancerous malignancy returned. She then traveled to Our Lady of Lourdes in France. She returned to Aleppo and died on February 7, 1961, aged 56. She was buried alongside her husband, Georges, and was interred into the Salesian Church there. Archbishop Fattal presided over the requiem, in which he referred to her as 'Santa Matilde'. 

THE MERCY OF CHRIST

 

 

Pope St. John Paul II  in his homily, proclaiming the second Sunday of Easter  DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY said: during his homily,

“Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified: ‘My daughter, say that I am love and mercy personified,’ Jesus will ask Sr. Faustina (Diary, p. 374). Christ pours out this mercy on humanity though the sending of the Spirit who, in the Trinity, is the Person-Love. 

And is not mercy love’s ‘second name’, understood in its deepest and most tender aspect, in its ability to take upon itself the burden of any need and, especially, in its immense capacity for forgiveness? Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina Kowalska to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time … Jesus told Sr Faustina: ‘Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy’ (Diary, p. 132).”

 In a vision to Saint Faustina, which she wrote down in her Diary:

On one occasion, I heard these words: My daughter, tell the whole world about My Inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy.

The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy.

Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary 699)Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to our neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to absolve yourself from it." (Diary 742)

Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have affirmed this new tradition and the new feast has become an official part of the Church’s liturgical calendar.

Images:

            Father Pachomius Meade, O.S.B.,Conception Abbey,  Missouri

            Stephen B. Whatley, England

B

SCIENTIST TO THE POOR

 

VENERABLE FATHER CARLO CRESPI CROCI was an amazing man of many talents, known not only for his love and care of the poor people of Ecuador, but also for science in  botany and archaeology.

This Salesian Society of St. John Bosco priest was born in Legnano, near Milan, Italy in 1891. He was the third of 13 children in a wealthy and influential family. He attended the local school and at the age of 12 started school with the Salesians. It was here that he met Renato Ziggiotti, his classmate and future successor of St. John Bosco. Sensing a call to Salesian life, he completed his novitiate in Foglizzo and made final profession in 1907. In 1917, he was ordained a priest.

 It was during this period that he deepened his study of theology and philosophy and taught mathematics, music, and natural sciences. At the University of Padua, he discovered  the existence of an unknown microorganism, becoming known in scientific circles for this important discovery. In 1921, he received a doctorate in natural sciences, with a specialization in botany, and shortly afterward a degree in music.

 It is 1923 he left for Ecuador as a missionary. He first landed in Guayaquil, reaching Quito, but finally settled in Cuenca, where he would remain until his death. He opened an institute of education, a primary school for poor children, a college for Salesians, sewing workshops for young women and a museum, famous for its many scientific exhibits. He received the gold medal of merit from the president of Ecuador and also was honored by the Italian government. In 1938, he organized the First Diocesan Eucharistic Congress in Cuenca.

 The last years of his life were spent in the confessional, where the faithful follow one another in long lines, eager to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation, but at the same time advice and comfort from the man they did not hesitate to call “Saint Charles Crespi.” He was always among the poor and on Sunday afternoons he taught catechism to street children giving them their 'daily bread' as well as a time to enjoy themselves.

Wearied by a life of hardship chosen to live as a poor man among his poor, on April 30, 1982, after asking for the last time to have the crucifix in his hands, the Venerable died in the “Santa Inés” Clinic in Cuenca from bronchopneumonia and a heart attack. 

He was declared “most illustrious citizen of Cuenca of the 20th century", and all Ecuador wept at the death of a true and holy son of Don Bosco.

 

MY PARADISE

 

                                   Photo by Marty Lehr, March 30, 2023

This is part of the Paradise I live in.  Recently I was with friends on the mainland going through the Skagit Valley.  It was a sudden burst of warm spring (to last only 3 days). It is one of the most fertile valleys in the country. The farmlands and wetlands, estuaries and marine waters, prairies and forests of the Skagit Valley provide the wintertime habitat needs for hundreds of bird species, including trumpeter swans, snow geese, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and countless others.

This valley is the winter home of over 100,000 Snow geese and the Skagit Flats has been identified as an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society and in 2012 it was designated as Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) site.

The Snow geese arrive from Wrangel Island in the Arctic in massive, undulating Vs. in the autumn. You can hear them coming as clouds of them descend on the fields.  The masses look like snow on the green fields. The experience to be in the middle of this phenomenon  is a wonder to behold,  one which I never tire of seeing, even after many years.

RESURRECTION-2023

 

HE IS RISEN AS HE PROMISED.

ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA

Very Early in the Morning

“This [Great Alleluia] rises with a slow movement; it rises above the grave of Adam, and it has the blood of Christ on its wings. It is the marriage song of the Paschal night, which will grow slowly brighter as it meets the day of resurrection. But these are only words. The first alleluia of the Paschal night is a mystery, unutterable like all mysteries. As this alleluia is, so is the whole life of Christians: A gentle, quiet song of joy which meets the rise of day in the midst of the suffering of night time.”   Sister Aemiliana Löhr, OSB

Images from Benton Spruance

(see previous Blog for Holy Week)

WOUND OF CHRIST

 

A little-known devotion in the Passion of Jesus is to the SHOULDER WOUND.  

In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux was praying and asked Jesus what was the greatest unrecorded suffering of His passion.

 Jesus told St. Bernard:

“I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men.”

 Then, with this knowledge, St. Bernard composed the following prayer:

“O Loving Jesus, Meek Lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so tore Thy Flesh and laid bare Thy Bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy Most Blessed Body.

 I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross, to be merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins and to lead me on towards Heaven along the Way of Thy Cross. Amen.”

 Saint Padre Pio also had a devotion to the Sacred Wound and himself suffered this same wound as a stigmata. When Pope Saint John Paul II was still a priest he visited Padre Pio and asked him which wound was his most painful. Father Wojtyła expected that it was his chest wound, but the saint replied:

“It is my shoulder wound, which no one knows about and has never been cured or treated.”

Prior to his death, Padre Pio confided to Brother Modestino Fucci at his friary in San Giovanni Rotondo that his greatest pains happened when took off his shirt. At the time, Brother Modestino believed it to be his chest wounds much like John Paul II. When he was later assigned the task of inventorying all the items inside the cell of the late Padre Pio, he noticed his undershirts had blood stains on the right shoulder.

That night, Brother Fucci prayed asking Padre Pio for a sign if he truly bore the shoulder wound of Christ. At 1 A.M., he awoke with an excruciating pain in his right shoulder and the room was filled the aroma of flowers, the sign Padre Pio’s spiritual presence, and he heard a voice call out: “This is what I had to suffer!”

O Loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God,

I a miserable sinner, salute and worship
the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder
on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross,
which so tore Thy Flesh and laid bare Thy Bones
as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater
than any other Wound of Thy Most Blessed Body.

I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful;
I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks
for this most sacred and painful Wound,
beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain
and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross
to be merciful to me, a sinner,
to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins,
and to lead me on towards Heaven
                                                        along the Way of Thy Cross.

                                                Amen

.

                            

HOLY WEEK-2023

 

 

An artist to represent us in Holy week is BENTON MURDOCH SPRUANCE, an American painter, printmaker, and architect. He was a pioneer in color lithography,

Born in Philadelphia in 1904. he was known for his innovations in color lithography with series of works relating to mythological and religious themes, as well as portraiture. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

An art scholarship took him to Paris, and while looking for art supplies one day, he discovered the workshop of French Master Printer Edmond Desjobert. What had been a passing interest in lithography soon blossomed into a life-long passion.

 To support his wife and two sons, Benton taught art at Philadelphia’s Beaver College and the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the College of Art and Design).

 In the twenties and thirties he was known for prints that one critic described as his "velvety urban scenes and 'social conscious' series," which chronicled the life of ordinary men and women at work and play.

 He was also a painter and draftsman who during this period took advantage of two Guggenheim fellowships to travel throughout the United States and Europe and sketch landscapes.

In the forties Benton began producing moody, psychologically charged lithographic portraits of women, followed by mystically tinged work, based on biblical passages, that became increasingly subtle and sculptural in effect.

 

Despite the demand for his work (he produced more than 500 lithographs during his career),Benton continued to teach.

 At the time of his death in 1967, he was chairman of the art department at Beaver College and had recently retired from the chairmanship of the printmaking department at Philadelphia College of Art.

Works:  Behold the Man (1947)

             Black Friday (1958)

             Pieta- from the Sea (1943)