EASTER IN UKRAINE

 

Ukraine Easter- Nikolai  Pimonenko

For many in our country, the only thing we know about the Ukrainians are their beautiful Easter eggs.  We are fortunate to have about a dozen given to us years ago and when the invasion by the Russians started, Mother Dilecta put a bowl of  our eggs under the altar as an outward sign of our continuous prayers.

Unlike  Western Easter eggs, these are not dyed, but rather decorated in a traditional  method, using candles, colored dye and beeswax. It takes hours to make one egg.

These eggs are called  "pysanky" a term meaning to write or to inscribe. This method originated in eastern Europe and predates Christianity. Pagan peoples believed that their magic would assure the coming of Spring. In Christian times, the pagan decorated egg became an Easter egg, symbolizing Christ’s Resurrection. 

 A stylus, called a kistka, “paints” the  melted beeswax “writing” the design onto the egg. (The term pysanky, plural for pysanka, comes from the verb pysaty, which means “to write.”) Families have handed down their own plant-based dye recipes. The designs  are often of nature: wheat, fire, animals, flowers. Some patterns are purely geometric, a bit Art Nouveau or Japanese inspired.

The initial wax lines resist the first dye and remain white. As more wax designs are added, the egg is dyed repeatedly with successively darker dyes. Many colors, or just a few, can be used. With the attacks in Ukraine showing no sign of stopping, our eggs have come to mean more to us, as we continue to hold the people in our hearts, praying for new life.  

Amazingly enough, hours after I wrote this Blog, Mother Therese received a package from our friend, Isabel. Inside carefully wrapped was a beautifully decorated pysanky.  Isabel, a very gifted artist, taught a class on this ancient art and like so many artists today, sent all funds to aid the Ukrainian people.

EASTER MONDAY

 

 Resurrection - Ivanka Demchuk

Easter Monday, by Christina Rossetti 

Out in the rain a world is growing green,
On half the trees quick buds are seen
Where glued-up buds have been.
Out in the rain God’s Acre stretches green,
Its harvest quick tho’ still unseen:
For there the Life hath been.

If Christ hath died His brethren well may die,
Sing in the gate of death, lay by
This life without a sigh:
For Christ hath died and good it is to die;
To sleep when so He lays us by,
Then wake without a sigh.

Yea, Christ hath died, yea, Christ is risen again:
Wherefore both life and death grow plain
To us who wax and wane;
For Christ who rose shall die no more again:
Amen: till He makes all things plain
Let us wax on and wane.

 

RADIANT FACE OF JESUS

Resurrection-  Ivanka Demchuk

If you were not risen,
Lord Christ, to whom would we go
to discover a radiance
of the face of God?

If you were not risen,
we would not be together seeking your communion.
We would not find in your presence forgiveness,
wellspring of a new beginning.

If you were not risen,
where would we draw the energy for following you
right to the end of our existence,
for choosing you again and anew? 

Brother Roger of Taize

 

THE FACE OF CHRIST- SATURDAY

 

 

The disfigured face of Christ reveals to us the state of the human heart. Nonetheless – even though the blows were able to disfigure His Face and the flogging he received in His Head caused a hemorrhage of blood in His eyes – sin was not capable of changing the expression of His countenance.  

His flesh and his appearance were marred – nose out of joint, forehead with open wounds, lips burst open, cheeks purple – yet His countenance represented the love in His Heart:  serene, prayerful, patient, humble, obedient, meek. 

Sin did not touch His Heart, and His eyes were able to reveal it.  His eyes, like bright lamps, shone powerfully in the midst of the darkness of sin that disfigured His face, manifesting the light of love that was never extinguished in His Heart – regardless of the horror that our sin brought upon Him. 

 To contemplate the Face of Jesus is to contemplate His Heart – the most intimate of part His Heart that is manifested in His Face.  In an inspiration the Lord showed me His disfigured and suffering Face, but with eyes full of such serenity that it transmitted strength.  In the midst of suffering and great pain, His Heart remained fixed on Love and that was His strength and His serenity.

The Face of Christ in the Face of the Church, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins (Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints)

Images: Top- Cimabue, Pisa, Italy (d. 1302)

             Bottom- Dieric Bouts - Netherlands (d. 1475)  

FACE OF JESUS- FRIDAY

 

 

"Suffering has to come because if you look at the cross, he has got his head bending down ... he wants to kiss you... and he has both hands open wide ... he wants to embrace you.  He has his heart opened wide to receive you.  Then when you feel miserable inside, look at the cross and you will know what is happening.  Suffering, pain, sorrow, humiliation, disappointment, feelings of loneliness, are nothing but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close that he can kiss you...That suffering has to come that came in the life of Our Lady, that came in the life of Jesus...it has to come in our life also.  Only never put on a long face.  Suffering is a gift from God.  It is between you and Jesus alone inside." (St. Teresa of Calcutta)

Image:  Laur Iduc- Saint Etienne, France

FACE OF JESUS - THURSDAY

 

His look was marred “beyond that of man and His appearance beyond that of mortals…He was spurned…and we held Him in no esteem” (Is. 52:14; 53:3). 

 "The face of Christ which is reflected in the Saints, and which they have in turn revealed to the world, is that of the Lord who died and rose again, of whom the Pope speaks in Novo Millennio ineunte:  "As on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Church pauses in contemplation of this bleeding face, which conceals the life of God and offers salvation to the world. But her contemplation of Christ's face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified One. He is the Risen One.  (Bishop Rino Fisichella Reflections on the Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter ‘Novo Millennio ineunte,  (L'Osservatore Romano)

Image: Christine Pausche- USA

FACE OF SUFFERING JESUS- WEDNESDAY

 

                  Tetiana Duman-Skop - Ukrania (d. 2020 of brain cancer at age thirty-nine

 

Most holy Face of Jesus on the cross, what a lesson You give to me! Your charity has reached even to the extent of pardoning Your executioners and praying for them. It is, above all, for those who struck You, wounded You, dealt You blows, covered You with spittle, that You said: "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do."

 When they struck You, You endured them, gently and in silence. Now, You raise Your voice to excuse and defend them, to obtain pardon for them; in offering for them Your blood, You give them the greatest proof of Your love. Teach me this Your endurance of our neighbors and this Your generosity in pardoning even our most cruel enemies. Yes, I forgive, for love of  You all who have offended me. With you; I pray for the sinners who outrage You, for the wretched men who blaspheme You; I beg of You their conversion and their salvation. Let them but turn to You, oh most Holy Face, let them invoke You; it is enough! Whoever looks on You, oh blessed Face, with faith and repentance, will escape the sting of the serpent and will find life.

(Novena to the Holy Face)