COMMENT:

Hi. William,
Thank you, I can almost bet on gaining further insight to my ponderings.
God bless you.
fr. Donald.
P.S. Below, picture inscribing the text of the challenging translation word 'begemming'. 

----- Forwarded Message -----

"begemmed" with tears of Holy Face? English translation

From: William J. ...
To: Donald. ...
Sent: Sunday, 4 August 2013, 19:10
Subject: Canticle of the Holy Face

Dear Father Donald,

I have received so much delight sharing in your beautiful ponderings - "Beyond all the FACES, the divine presence, is faith in God who IS!" and I too can 'read' the Holy Face in your photographs of the trees, and see images in nature - cloud formations can be quite mystical! And behind these images one can sense the Hand of God as one gazes in a spirit of adoration... 

St Therese's poem is exceptional! I have been studying it (four columned attachment). I too prefer the Internet version. The endeavour to make the English translation rhyme in the other two versions, for me, detracts from the exquisite sentiments she expresses. I was very chuffed to find my little grasp of French re-awaken sufficiently that I could attempt (very cautiously) altering some of the very literal phrases where the sense seemed confused.

This delightful excursus with you has filled my day with much happiness. I have taken a print of the 'paper' to ponder in the quiet morning hours before the images of the FACE of Christ that I love so much (Leonardo's Salvator Mundi and Reni's Ecce Homo). And I am eager to find again those passages in St Paul's letters and the Psalms!

Ever do I pray for enlightenment, and it is indeed such that I receive from your inspired thoughts - thank you Father!

What Joy we experience

in the love of Our Lord,

William

Poems of the Little Flower of Jesus; CANTICLE TO THE HOLY FACE

Dear William,

It is an extremely interest to compare the translations of one poem in the Poems of the Little Flower of Jesus.

There is also the multi-task in melodies, chords, keys in the features of the FACE in our vision.

There are countless pictures of Jesus in devotion pictures.

I love to 'read' the Holy Face in the trees in our windows.

Looking the trees in the wind and see the faces. ...

There is more to remember from St Theres's being named 'of the Holy Face'.

Beyond all the FACES, the divine presence, is faith in God who IS! 

 For the moment pondering.
God love.
fr. Donald

Poems of the Little Flower of Jesus

CANTICLE TO THE HOLY FACE

COMMENTARY:    

'Begemmed' re the tears of the Holy Face in the Poem of Therese paused for thought, a rather unfamiliar word.  

The Canticle to the Holy Face is another curtain raiser to the whole 'story of the soul', of Saint Therese of the Infant of Jesus and of the Holy Face.

Writing, poetry, art, dance, song, is the multi-task of her life in fullness.

One tip of iceberg from the translation, "Holy Face) Of those dear Eyes begemmed with tears", "De tes yeux embellis de pleurs", immerses to the Face visions.

Icons, paintings and Biblical references to the  Divine Face echoes in Therese of the Holy Face.

The chart of the 4 versions of the poem give lessons well.

Surprising is to find the Internet translation from the original being very literal and seems to prove the best poem.
Reading and re-reading the French and Internet translation gives me unending grasp of mind and heart.

 1.     Cantique à la Sainte Face.
http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/saints/carmel/thereseenfj/poesies1/025.htm
2. Collected Poems of Therese of Lisieux. Translated by  Alan Bancroft.
3. Poems of St Therese of the Child Jesus. Translated by the Carmelites of Santa Clara, Cal., USA. Oct 1925

Cantique à la Sainte Face. Original: French Jésus ton ineffable image Est l'astre qui conduit mes pas ; Tu le sais bien, ton doux Visage Est pour moi le ciel ici-bas ! Mon amour découvre les charmes De tes yeux embellis de pleurs. Je souris à travers mes larmes, Quand je contemple tes douleurs. Oh ! je veux pour te consoler Vivre ignorée et solitaire; Ta beauté que tu sais voiler Me découvre tout son mystère, Et vers toi je voudrais voler! Ta Face est ma seule patrie, Elle est mon royaume d'amour; Elle est ma riante prairie, Mon doux soleil de chaque jour; Elle est le lis de la vallée Dont le parfum mystérieux Console mon âme exilée, Lui fait goûter la paix des cieux. Elle est mon repos, ma douceur, Et ma mélodieuse lyre... Ton Visage, ô mon doux Sauveur, Est le divin bouquet de myrrhe Que je veux garder sur mon coeur ! Ta Face est ma seule richesse; Je ne demande rien de plus. En elle, me cachant sans cesse, Je te ressemblerai, Jésus ! Laisse en moi la divine empreinte De tes traits remplis de douceurs, Et bientôt je deviendrai sainte, Vers toi j'attirerai les coeurs ! Afin que je puisse amasser Une belle moisson dorée, De tes feux daigne m'embraser! Bientôt, de ta bouche adorée, Donne-moi l’éternel baiser! 12 août 1895. 1 Certains airs profanes, comme celui-ci, avaient été indiqués à la Bienheureuse par sa cousine, Sr Marie de l'Eucharistie, et elle s'était inspirée du rythme pour composer ses vers. Depuis, bien des auteurs se sont essayés à mettre en musique quelques-unes de ces poésies. Un recueil en a été édité.	Hymn to the Holy Face. Translation: Internet Jesus your ineffable picture Is the star that guided my steps; You know it, your sweet face Is my heaven on earth! My love discovers the charms Your eyes embellished with tears. I smiled through my tears, When I look at your pain. Oh! I want to comfort you Living ignored and lonely; You know your beauty veil I discovered all its mystery, And I want you to fly! Your Face is my only home, She is my kingdom of love; It is my cheerful meadow, My sweet sun each day; She is the lily of the valley Whose mysterious perfume Console my exiled soul, A taste of heaven him peace. It is my rest, my sweetness, And my melodious lyre ... Your face, my sweet Savior, Is the divine bouquet of myrrh I want to keep on my heart! Your Face is my only wealth; I ask nothing more. In it, hiding me constantly, I'll look like you, Jesus! Let me in the divine imprint Of your lines filled with sweets, And soon I will become holy, To you I will draw the hearts! So I can raise A golden harvest Of your fires ablaze deigns me Soon, your mouth adored Give me the eternal kiss! August 12, 1895. 1 Some secular tunes, as it had been given to the Blessed by his cousin, Sister Mary of the Eucharist, and she was inspired to compose his pace. Since then, many authors have tried to put some music of these poems. A collection has been published.
CANTICLE TO THE HOLY FACE Translated by the Carmelites of Santa Clara, Cal., USA. Oct 1925 JESUS, Thine image, fair to trace, Shall be my star, where'er I go, Thou knowest, in Thy Sacred Face, I find my Heaven, while here below. My love hath found the charm untold Of those dear Eyes begemmed with tears, I smile, though weeping, to behold The grief that in their depth appears. Fain would I, to be Thy solace, Live forgotten and unknown, For the beauty Thou art veiling Hath to me its secret shown, Drawing me to Thee alone. Thy holy Face shall be my home, The Kingdom of my heart's best love, The smiling meadow where I roam, My Sun each day in skies above. My hidden lily of the vale, Whose mystic perfume, faint and rare, Shall to my banished soul exhale The peace of Heaven I long to share. 'Tis my rest, my harp melodious, Where the strains of Heaven recur; Thy dear Face, my gentle Saviour, Is a knot of sacred myrrh; From my breast 'twill never stir. My only treasure is Thy Face, No other do I ask to see, There shall I find my hiding place, Till, Jesus, I resemble Thee. O seal me with divine impress Of Thy sweet Image, as I plead; Full soon, imbued with holiness, To Thee all hearts my heart shall lead. With Thy fires of love inflame me, That from ripened fields be stored Harvests rich in golden plenty; Soon then, from Thy mouth adored, Thine eternal kiss accord. August 12. 1895.	29. MY HEAVEN HERE BELOW  Translated by Alan Bancroft 1996 1.      Your picture, Jesus, like a star  Is guiding me! And, ah, You know  Your Features - grace itself they are  To me, are Heaven here below.  Your weeping ... that to Love appears  As ornament - attractiveness!  I'm smiling while I'm shedding tears  At seeing You in your distress.  2.      To comfort You, I want to be  Unknown upon the earth. Below  Your Beauty's veiled, and yet to me  Reveals its Mystery! and, oh,  Would I, to You, were flying free!  3.      Your Face ... my only Homeland, and  The Kingdom, too, where Love has sway:  And it's my smiling meadowland,  The gentle Sun of every day:  The Lily of the Valley - ah,  Its perfume's Mystery! I'm giv'n  What consolation from afar -  A foretaste of the Peace of Heav'n.  4.      Your Face - repose and tenderness  Is truly my melodious lyre ...  Bouquet of Myrrh, I would caress  (Such gentleness do You inspire!),  That safely to my heart I'd press ....  5.      Your Face ... ah, only that will be  The wealth I ask as revenue: I'll hide in it, unceasingly;  Then, Jesus, I'll resemble You.  Imprint in me those traits divine  Your Gentleness of Face imparts;  Holiness, then, will soon be mine  To You I'll be attracting hearts.  6.      So I can gather souls - it's this,  A golden harvest, I desire -  Set me aflame! And, soon, in bliss,  Grant that sweet burning of Your Fire,  Your lips in an eternal Kiss!

RIDER on BBC Songs of Praise 'I Believe in Angels' after the 7 days broadcast.

 
At the National Gallery 150 paintings of Angels,
with Our Lady, Nativity and Saints.

Rider to the Broadcast I believe in angels ! - YouTube ► 4:42► 4:42 www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuB7cJR3ZiI May 1, 2011 - Uploaded by peoplepassion ABBA Lyrics: I have a dream... a song to sing, to help me cope with anything ... I believe in angels ...  http://angelsandsaintsandus.blogspot.co.uk/  Saturday, September 29, 2012   Feast of the Archangels http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lorenzo-costa-the-adoration-of-the-shepherds-with-angels The Adoration of the Shepherds with Angels about 1499, Lorenzo Costa    There are nine choirs of music-making angels on each side of the Holy Family and adoring shepherds. Two larger angels, centre, blowing trumpets, herald the arrival of a further group of angels bearing the Instruments of the Passion. HYMNS ·        1. Praise, My Soul, The King Of ·        2. Angel Voices Ever Singing Choir 3 All Through The Night  Sir Willard White      4 At The Name Of Jesus  Choir  ·       5. In Heavenly Love Abiding 6. Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, 7. When at night I go to sleep. Evening Prayer BBC Radio 2 Choristers Of The Year 2009: Jacquelyne Hill & Laurence Kilsby ·              ·            Factsheet for Sunday 3rd February 2013 Pam Rhodes meets people who believe they have encountered angels and introduces some popular angelic hymns. ·            Interviewees Here is some background information on the contributors that appeared on this week's programme;  ROY GODWIN  Roy Godwin was travelling with his wife and children on a road through a dense forest one frosty night in December 1981 when he crashed with another vehicle who was travelling on the wrong side of the road. His family were removed from the car and taken off to hospital but Roy was trapped in the damaged vehicle with major injuries. Suddenly a strange figure came through the forest and sat down beside him on the passenger seat. The encounter was unusual, not least because of the unusual words the stranger spoke and Roy believes that the mysterious figure might have been an angel.  DR PAULA GOODER  Dr Paula Gooder is a freelance writer and lecturer in Biblical Studies. She explains the origin of the word “angel” and explores the potential different meanings of the word in both the Old and New Testaments. She also ponders why Christians today often don’t talk about angels despite being surrounded by depictions of them in stained glass windows in many churches. Finally she reveals her own beliefs about what constitutes an angelic encounter.  WALLACE AND MARY BROWN  Wallace Brown felt called by God to leave his leafy parish in Leicestershire and continue his ministry on a council estate in Birmingham. So he became the vicar of St Boniface’s Church in Quinton. But he and his wife Mary soon discovered that a violent gang gathered every day around the walls of the church. After several months, they were finding life there very difficult but Mary felt that God was calling them to pray for guardian angels to protect the walls of the church, so they did – with seemingly miraculous results.  LORNA BYRNE  Lorna Byrne says she has seen angels since she was a tiny child and has written several books about her experiences including “Angels in my Hair”. She describes how angels appear to her and how she believes that everyone, no matter what their religion or what sort of person they are, has their own guardian angel.  www.lornabyrne.com Lorna Byrne   www.lornabyrne.com/ A Message of Hope from the Angels by Lorna Byrne Read more →. someone to watch over you. Someone is watching over you, an inspirational music video ... ·            Locations   ·        The National Gallery  Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

Eucharistic Symphony in Gethsemane

              http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=21112   

Eucharistic Symphony in Gethsemane

Posted: Monday, September 24, 2012

Garden of Gethsemane On Saturday, 22 September,  in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem, all Christian heads of Churches and Communities gathered under the open sky in front of the walls of the Holy City for an extraordinary concert: the world première of the Eucharistic Symphony. One of the latest compositions of the titular organist of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for the Roman Catholic Church, the Italian musician Maestro Armando Pierucci, the 'Eucharistic Symphony' was written upon commission by Mr Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori, the President of the Milan Conservatory of Music. It is inspired by liturgical pieces ordinarily sung during the Eucharistic liturgy from twelve different Christian musical traditions in the Holy City, with twelve corresponding movements and an introduction on a Jewish theme. It will be performed by the Duni Choir and Orchestra of the Matera Conservatory of Music, directed by Maestro Carmine Antonio Catenazzo, with Carlo Rotunno as baritone singer. In itself a Western piece in nature but using themes in the antique musical modes of the Eastern traditions, no longer in usage in Western music, the Eucharistic Symphony is not only musically unique, but also highly symbolical: it shall give a sight of the beauty and harmony of the rich different Christian traditions interacting precisely “in symphony”, a vision of Christian communion expressed through the art of music. It is meant to be an invitation to all Christians to become more aware of their own Church and liturgical tradition, which reflect their history and cultural identity, as well as to discover with loving care the multiplicity of traditions of other Christian Churches. To see a video presentation click here: http://www.fmc-terrasanta.org/en/actuality-events-and-society.html?vid=2588 Many thanks to Jan Bidaud for telling us about this.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross 14 Sep - Salvador Dali

Exaltation of the Holy Cross 14 Sep - Salvador Dali

BBC - Scotland - Scotland's favourite painting: Dali's Christ of St ...

www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/.../scotlands_favourite_painting_dalis_christ...

23 Jun 2011 – Culture and Sport Glasgow (Museums). Salvador Dali's masterpiece, Christ of St John of the Cross, was first displayed in the Kelvingrove Art ...  

Dali's surrealist peers were critical of his interest in religion. He took his inspiration for the painting from a drawing of the Crucifixion made by St John of the Cross, a 16th Century Spanish saint who had a vision in which he saw himself looking down on Christ on the cross from above.

Dali had a similar dream in which he saw Christ on the cross above the landscape of his home, in Port Lligat in Catalonia, northern Spain. After a second dream, he was inspired to paint his Christ without nails through his hands or a crown of thorns on his head. He wanted him to be beautiful.

He presented Honeyman with a sketch of his portrayal of Christ with the inscription, 'For my friend Honeyman with much affection, Salvador Dali.' © Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí

Edwin Morgan captures Dali's desire in his ode to the painting, 'Salvador Dali: Christ of St John of the Cross.'

The model for Dali's Christ was Hollywood stuntman,Russell Saunders. He strapped Saunders (who was Gene Kelly's body double in Singin' in the Rain') to a gantry so he could see the effect of the pull of gravity on his body.

Using mathematical theories to work out the proportions for the painting, Dali saw himself as the first artist to paint pictures that could combine science with religious belief and called this Nuclear Mysticism.

In 1993, the painting was transferred to the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art and came back to Kelvingrove for the reopening after restoration in July 2006.

When it was suggested that it should be hung in a church, not in a museum, Honeyman's reply was ' … carried to the conclusion of that logic, Rembrandt's The Slaughterhouse should be hung in a cattle market.' (T J Honeyman, Art and Audacity, Collins, 1971).

In 2005, it was voted Scotland’s favourite painting in a poll conducted by The Herald newspaper.

+ + + 

"Between the Heathen and the Threefol God there is only one link the CROSS." (Jean Danielou).  
The sense of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is strikingly articulated by Jean Danielou from his book, 'The Lord of History'.  
It so happens that Benedict XVI opens even more of the mystery of the Cross in a section from his book, INtroduction to Christianity, He says, "There is an important passage on this subject by Jean Danielou. It really forms part of   inquiry but it might well help to elucidate the idea we are striving to understand. 

The Lord of History, Jean Danielou, pp. 339-340.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/104743356/Danielou-The-Lord-of-History 

The cross of Christ is the only means of communication between the heathen world and the blessed Trinity: so we cannot be surprised to find that when we deliberately establish ourselves in the midst of these two, and try to bring them together, this is not possible without the Cross. 

We must be conformed to that Cross,  and  carry it,  ‘carry about continually in our bodies the dying state of Jesus',1/  as St Paul said of the true missionary: for this dichotomy we suffer, this strain in our hearts between the love of the most holy Trinity and the love of a world that is alien to the most holy Trinity, is nothing but our share which the only begotten Son invites us to take in his Passion

He bore in himself that duality of opposition and conflict, and brought it to an end in himself, but he only ended it because he had first borne it. He reaches from one extreme to the other. Remaining eternally in the Triune Godhead, he yet descends to the uttermost borne of human want, and fills up all the intervening distance. This boundless range of Christ's action, symbolized in the four cardinal points of the cross, is itself the hidden meaning and the formal principle of the missionary's fragmentation.

It is then the very vocation of the apostle to unite, however paradoxically, the love of the Trinity and the love of the heathen, to belong to both, and to feel the separation between them. The whole spiritual life of a real missionary wears this  double aspect: every feature of it is marked with the missionary character. His prayer is apostolic, for he takes up in it the peoples whom he has spiritually made his own, offering explicitly to the Father through the Son everything about them that is capable of consecration. His poverty is apostolic, for it consists in accepting the deprivation of all that he has – his time, his affections, his substance - by and for the sake of his brethren. He is made over to them, he is their prey: 'henceforward, we do not think of anybody in a merely human fashion'.2/ We are destitute of human wealth; but we hold our single treasure in the inaccessible secret heart of hearts, the tabernacle where dwells the blessed Trinity.  1/  Cor. 4:10. 2/ 2 Cor. 5:16

*  J. Danielou, Essai sur le mystere de l'histoire (Paris, 1953).

 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinge,
Introduction into Christianity, 1669, pp. 290-293

In the last analysis pain is the product and expression of Jesus Christ s being stretched out from being in God right down to the hell of "My God, why have you forsaken me?" Anyone who has stretched his existence so wide that he is simultaneously immersed in God and in the depths of the God-forsaken creature is bound to be torn asunder, as it were' such a one. is. truly "crucified". But this process of being torn apart IS identical with love; it is its realization to the extreme (Jn I3:I) and the concrete expression of the breadth It creates.

From this standpoint it should be possible to bring out clearly the true basis of meaningful devotion to the Passion; it should also become evident how devotion to the Passion and apostolic spirituality overlap. It should become evident that the apostolic element-service to man and in the world-is permeated with the very essence of Christian mysticism and of Christian devotion to the Cross. The two do not impede each other; at the deepest level, each lives on the other. Thus it should now also be plain that with the Cross it is not a matter of an accumulation of physical pain, as if its redemptive value consisted in its involving the largest possible amount of physical torture. Why should God take pleasure in the suffering of his creature, indeed his own Son, or even see in it the currency with which reconciliation has to be purchased from him? The Bible and right Christian belief are far removed from such ideas. It is not pain as such that counts but the breadth of the love that spans existence so completely that it unites the distant and the near, bringing God-forsaken man into relation with God. It alone gives the pain an aim and a meaning. Were it otherwise, then the executioners around the Cross would have been the real priests; they, who had caused the pain, would have offered the sacrifice. But this was not the point; the point was that inner centre that bears and fulfils the pain, and therefore the exe­cutioners were not the priests; the priest was Jesus, who reunited the two separated ends of the world in his love (Eph 2:I3f.).

Basically this also answers the question with which we started, whether it is not an unworthy concept of God to imagine for oneself a God who demands the slaughter of his Son to pacify his wrath. To such a question one can only reply, indeed, God must not be thought of in this way. But in any case such a concept of God has nothing to do with the idea of God to be found in the New Testament. The New Testament is the story of the God who of his own accord wished to become, in Christ, the Omega-the last letter-in the alphabet of creation. It is the story of the God who is himself the act of love, the pure "for", and who therefore necessarily puts on the disguise of the smallest worm (Ps 22:6 [2I:7]). It is the story of the God who identifies himself with his creature and in this contineri a minimo, in being grasped and overpowered by the least of his creatures, displays that "excess" that identifies him as God.