Friday 28 June 2013

Henri Nouwen and Rembrandt Cosmic Drama

COMMENT: 

--- Forwarded Message -----
From: William W...
To: Donald...
Sent: Wednesday, 12 June 2013, 18:49
Subject: [Blog] Henri Nouwen and Rembrandt

Dear Father Donald,
Such finely perceptive meditations - with such skill to express them - delight me in Henri Nouwen's writings that you record on your Blog: these I have captured for myself, together with images of Rembrandt's affective drawings of Leonardo's great work, The Last Supper (tempting me to make however poor a sketch myself...)
I hardly begin to know how to filter and then to express the thoughts and feelings that drift through my mind as I rest before the Eucharist at early Vigils: I have noted down those few highlights (below) which will give me moorings to hold onto against the constant tide of the movement of my mind. This Henri Nouwen book you have discovered, and Sr Wendy Beckett's also, place such thoughts as these before us in both words and reflective images as we contemplate the wonder of it all!
Thank you for sharing your delight... that indeed 'our joy may be complete'.
Truly a great joy!
With my love in Our Lord,
William
PS. My fabulous screen saver bathes my room in light (your photo on the Blog of the South Cloister, of the 'Sunset - silhouettes, reflections, mirrors, shadows.' P1014796 South Cloister sunset Silhouette.jpg')
Extracts from 'Jesus, A Gospel' by Henri Nouwen
The Eucharist is the most ordinary and the most divine gesture imaginable. That is the truth of Jesus. So human, yet so divine; so familiar, yet so mysterious; so close, yet so revealing!
We all know of this desire to give ourselves at the table. We say: "Eat and drink; I made this for you. Take more; it is there for you to enjoy, to be strengthened, yes, to feel how much I love you." What we desire is not simply to give food, but to give ourselves. "Be my guest," we say.
This moment when Jesus is handed over to those who do with him as they please is a turning point in Jesus' min­istry. It is turning from action to passion...
It is important for me to realize that Jesus fulfills his mission not by what he does, but by what is done to him. Just as with everyone else, most of my life is determined by what is done to me and thus is passion... 
[Note: contrast the old adage, to be ‘active or passive’… which latter suggests a state of resignation, but here ‘passion’… negation itself, the sacrifice of disinterested love]
 "Those who love me," Jesus says, "will be loved by my Father" (John 14:21).  My true spiritual work is to let myself be loved, fully and completely, and to trust that in that love I will come to the fulfillment of my vocation.
I continue to see in myself and others how often we try to make unity among ourselves by focusing all our attention on each other and trying to find the place where we can feel united. When we direct our inner attention not first of all to each other, but to God to whom we belong, then we will discover that in God we also belong to each other.

Last Supper. Name the Apostles
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Donald Nunraw <nunrawdonald@yahoo.com>
To: William J Wardle <williamwardle2bp@btinternet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 12 June 2013, 21:43
Subject: Fw: [Blog] Henri Nouwen and Rembrandt Cosmic Drama

Hi, William,
This book arrived from Amazon.
You cannot surprise that I must be suffering with read-salivating.
At the moment, very happy with your selections from Henri Nouwen.

At the evening Chapter, we enjoyed the report by the monks returned from Iona.
D.G.
Donald
             

Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper: A Cosmic Drama and an Act of Redemption Michael Ladwein 


Book Description

Publication Date: 13 Mar 2006 | ISBN-10: 1902636759 | ISBN-13: 978-1902636757
Numerous great works have been created within the realm of Christian art, but none has received as much acclaim as Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper". Art lovers venerate it for its composition and noble aesthetics, while for Christians it epitomises the intimate relationship between Christ and his disciples. In recent years it has also become the focus of intrigue, controversy and speculation, following the publication of some bestselling fictional narratives and questionable historical studies. Given the recent restoration that has exposed remnants of the original paint-work and removed falsifications created by over-painting, we are now able to contemplate Da Vinci's masterpiece in its original form for the first time since its creation over 500 years ago. In this lavishly-illustrated, full-colour book - which reproduces many details of the restored work - Michael Ladwein turns his attention to newly-revealed aspects that allow for fresh interpretations. The philosopher, Rudolf Steiner, called "The Last Supper" the world's most important work of art, adding that it revealed 'the meaning of earth existence'. Ladwein throws light on many aspects of the spiritual message that can be discovered in this immortal painting - one that has lost nothing of its urgency in our modern world.

About the Author

MICHAEL LADWEIN is an art historian and expert on religions who now conducts art study tours. He is also an author and translator. His published works include Chartres, Ein Fuhrer durch die Kathedrale (Chartres, A guided tour of the cathedral) and Raphaels Sixtinische Madonna (Raphael's Sistine Madonna). For more information see: www.ladwein-reisen.de.  

Contents

some pages......
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Leonardo Study of figures Venice  Academy


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Monday 24 June 2013

Solemnity of the Birth St. John the Baptist

Child Jesus with infant John the Baptist

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Nivard ...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Monday, 24 June 2013, 17:11
Subject: Happy Day
Dear Donald,

Happy Congrats on the fifty-fourth Anniversary of Ordination.

May the Lord continue to bless you in our wonderful vocation.

Love        Nivard 
+ + + 




12th Week Ord Time
Monday 24th  
On the Solemnity of the Birthday of St. John the Baptist, it is the 54th anniversary of Ordination of Priesthood. The 1959 souvenir cards long gone. The motto words of Psalm 26(27):4, remain at heart.
There is one thing I ask of the Lord
for this I long,
to live in the house of the Lord,
all the days of my life,
in the savour of the sweetness of the Lord,
to behold his temple. [Ps. 26:4, Grail 1963]

http://www.athanasius.com/psalms/psalms1.html#27 

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The most interesting subject for the Birthday of St. John of the Baptist in the Leonardo Charcoal Cartoon for the Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant St. John (Burlington House, London).



COLORPLATE 33
Painted 1499-1501
BURLINGTON HOUSE CARTOON (VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. ANNE), detail
Charcoal heightened with white on brown paper
National Gallery, London

The face of the Virgin in the Burlington House Cartoon accords with the type Leonardo had established seventeen years before in the Virgin of the Madonna of the Rocks in the Louvre (colour plate 18), yet it betrays the deep changes these long years had wrought in his art and that the other Madonna of the Rocks, the London version, first began to reveal. Something of that sweet harmony and well-being have survived, but now the face is that of a mature woman and is suffused with feelings and compassion that arc the direct result of an emotional and human concern with the actions of the children. Realistic behaviour has replaced elusive ethereality. The Virgin's head is voluminous and its structure more systematically defined than in Leonardo's earlier work. Moreover, the slight incline of the head is no longer a convention, as it was in the Madonna of the Rocks, but the result of a conscious movement. However, she still has the force of an idealized and universal presence.

The contrast between St. Anne's strange face and the pleasantly candid one of the Virgin could not be more striking. The older woman's narrow, deep set eyes, her deliberately compressed lips, and her curious mannered smile give the face an animation and a seer-like wisdom befitting one who attempts to communicate to a contented Virgin the dreadful knowledge of her son's future sacrifice. Leonardo's persistent search into the realm of the inner mind has given him access to emotions and psychological states that have now a mystical substance, which acts to expand upon and enrich the mere human condition.
Professor Wasserman
Leonardo

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Who do people say I am? Lk. 9:20

 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C  
Sunday, 23 June 2013



----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William J. W...
To: Donald.....
Sent: Sunday, 23 June 2013, 19:53
Subject: Today's Gospel: Who do people say I am? The person of Jesus

Dear Father Donald,
 
I am fascinated by today's Gospel... and have been meditating about it before I knew it was scheduled, the study of Christology being alive in my mind.
My study book is "Christology - a Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus' by Gerald O'Collins.
 
When someone tells us of someone they have met, our question is inevitably, 'what kind of person are they, what are they like?'
The mission of the Twelve had clearly been asked this question about Jesus, but even more directly - 'who is He'?!
Peter answers for us, and are we not so often considering how we might then have answered regarding the person of Jesus...
 
The identity of a person, who they are, what they are like... we 'feel' our way through life's introductions, so what of our meeting with Jesus?
 
If we turn the question to our embarrassment upon ourselves, what kind of person are we? what is our identity? what / who are we like?
Do I represent Christ as I follow Him, is my imitation a true representation of Him? The question to the Twelve must have needed this answer.
 
I do not think I dare to take this reflection further than that of the prayer of the publican...
  
It begs the question of us - WHO ELSE do we want to be like, if not Jesus? 
 
This passage in the Gospel is the litmus paper of our faith.
 
... in Our Lord,
William
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear William,
Thank you.
You were in bright hearing the Lord at V20 He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’
You are the best Reader for a tutor, and stear me to more details from Gerald O'Collins.
Our organist was away to serve the Mass at our neigbour Parish, over from the Lammermuirs, at Duns. I asked Fr' Raymond to bring his camera to the place of Blessed John Duns Scotus.
So we have the famous Immaculate Concepthion stained glass window in the RC Church. 
Potuit - Decuit - Ergo - Fecit (Dun Scotus)
Pictures attached.
... yours Donald 


     
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Sunday 23 June 2013

The Mystery of a Name

12th Sunday Ord Time
 
Night Office
First Reading    Judges 13:1-25
Second Reading  From the commentary by Rabanus Maurus
__________________________________________________________________
Judges 13:17, 18And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, What is your name, that when your sayings come to pass we may do you honor?…

Names denote persons and describe characters. The nameless one wraps both his individuality and his nature in mystery. Naturally Manoah, like Jacob, desires to solve such a mystery (Genesis 32:29), and in response to this wish, unlike "the traveller unknown," the angel reveals a name, though one of partial mystery. 

I. MANOAH'S QUESTION (see ver. 17). 

1. Manoah does not know that his visitor is an angel of the Lord (ver. 16). Divine visitations are not always recognised. The true nature of Christ was unknown to most of his contemporaries. We cannot always trace the hand of God in his providential action. Heaven is about us unnoticed; unseen ministries attend our lives; God is nearer to us than we suspect. 
2. Manoah desires to know the name of his mysterious visitor - 
(1) from natural curiosity, 
(2) from a desire to strengthen his faith in the message of the unknown, 
(3) from a wish to give him thanks when his promise should be fulfilled. 
The thirst to solve the strange questions which surround our spiritual life is natural, and not inconsistent with humility nor with faith. It would be better if we were more anxious to inquire for indications of God and of his character in the experience of life. 
II. THE ANGEL'S REPLY (see ver. 18). 
1. He begins his reply with a question. We should not assail heaven with unjustifiable prayers, but should be ready to give a reason for our petitions. Revelation is not intended to quench human thought, but to stimulate it. Every new voice from heaven, while it answers some questions, starts new questions. 
2. The angel implies that Manoah's request was needless, either 
(1) because he ought to have recognised the nature of his visitant from the character of his message and conduct, or 
(2) because it was more important to consider the meaning of the message than to inquire into the nature of the messenger. We sometimes pray for more light when we only need better eyes to use the light we have; not a fresh revelation, but discernment, reflection, spiritual feeling to appreciate the revelation already received. God's truth is more important than the person of the prophet, apostle, or angel who brings it to us. 
3. The angel gives Manoah a name. He is "Wonderful." This was a partial answer to Manoah's question. 
(1) It carried his thought to God, who is the supreme mystery, and suggested the greatness, the wonder, the awe of all that pertained to him. Thus it was a revelation of the Divine. 
(2) Nevertheless the name was but a partial explanation, as its very meaning suggested the unknown. The deepest questions cannot be solved on earth. But it matters little that the rays of revelation seem to melt into the darkness of the Infinite if only they shine bright and clear on our path of duty. - A. 


Parallel Verses
KJV: And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?
WEB: Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, "What is your name, that when your words happen, we may honor you?"
http://ibiblestudies.com/judges/13-17.htm 

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Rabanus Maurus: Christ, the Fair Glory of the Holy Angels

Saturday, Sep 29 2012 

Early Latin Monks and MONASTIC and PATRISTIC and Rabanus Maurus , , , ,, , ,  Mark Armitage 8:38 am
Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels,
Maker of all things, ruler of all nations,
Grant of thy mercy unto us thy servants
Steps up to heaven.
Send thine archangel Michael to our succour;
Peacemaker blessed, may he banish from us
Striving and hatred, so that for the peaceful
All things may prosper.
Send thine archangel Gabriel, the mighty;
Herald of heaven, may he, from us mortals,
Drive every evil, watching o’er the temples
Where thou art worshiped.
Send from the heavens Raphael thine archangel,
Health-bringer blessed, aiding every sufferer,
That, in thy service, he may wisely guide us,
Healing and blessing.
May the blest mother of our God and Saviour,
May the celestial companies of angels,
May the assembly of the saints in heaven
Hhelp us to praise thee.
Father Almighty, Son, and Holy Spirit,
God ever blessèd, hear our thankful praises;
Thine is the glory which from all creation
Ever ascendeth.
Rabanus Maurus (c.780-856), translated by the compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern@ Hymnary.org.
Rabanus Maurus: Jesus Enlightens the
Minds of All Believers with Heavenly Light

Tuesday, Jun 21 2011 

Early Latin Monks and MONASTIC and PATRISTIC and Rabanus Maurus , , ,, , , , ,  Mark Armitage 7:25 am
Let me summarise briefly everything that is said about Samson.
Samson, who in his day was a Nazirite of the Lord, is allegorically a type of Christ; first, because his birth was foretold by an angel;


secondly, because he was called a Nazirite and delivered Israel from its foes;
and, finally, because he overthrew their Temple, causing many thousands of people who had mocked him to perish.
As the birth of Samson was foretold by an angel, so the Lord’s bodily birth was foretold by the Prophets, as well as by the angel who said to Mary:
Hail, Mary, full of grace; you have conceived in your womb and will bear a son, and you shall call him ‘Emmanuel’, for he shall save his people from their sins.
The name ‘Samson’ means ‘sun’.
But our Redeemer too is called ‘sun’; listen to how the Prophet thus names the Lord Jesus: The sun of righteousness shall rise over you, and there will be healing in its wings.
The Lord Jesus is truly the Sun of Righteousness, for he enlightens the minds of all believers with heavenly light.
He is the true Nazirite and Holy one of God, and it is only by analogy with him that this other man was called a Nazirite.
When Samson was travelling to the wedding he encountered a roaring lion. As he travelled to a foreign people in quest of a wife, a lion came out to meet him and he killed it.
Who should we see foreshadowed by Samson if not Christ who, when about to gather the Church from among the Gentiles, said: Rejoice, for I have overcome the world.
What does it mean that Samson took honey from the mouth of ­the slain lion except that, as we ourselves see, the nations of the earthly kingdom who formerly raged against Christ have lost their ­savagery and, moved by the sweetness of the Gospel preaching make their votive offerings?
Also significant is what we see in ­Samson’s own person: he killed few in his lifetime, but countless ­were the enemies he slew when he died by destroying the Temple.
So too the Lord in his lifetime rescued few from the arrogance of unbelief, but he rescued many when the temple of his body was ­destroyed;
and those Gentiles who were arrogant and whom he bore with in his lifetime, he laid low by his death.
Rabanus Maurus (c.780-856): Commentary on Judges, 2.20 (PL 108:1198); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Sunday of Week 12 in Ordinary Time, Year1

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Saturday 22 June 2013

" Meg, I trust that his tender pity shall keep my poor soul safe and make me commend his mercy."(Thomas More).

A reading from a letter of St. Thomas More [1478-1535],
written in prison, to his daughterhttp://achristianpilgrim.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/with-good-hope-i-shall-commit-myself-wholly-to-god/
Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, Martyrs 


http://www.universalis.com/index.htm

Saint of the day: 22nd June
Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More 
Both saints held high office in England but submitted to martyrdom rather than accept Henry VIII's claim to be head of the Church.
St John Fisher was a learned teacher and chancellor at Cambridge university and a friend of the humanist Erasmus. He became Bishop of Rochester in 1504 at the age of 35. When asked to accept the King as head of the Church he said he could not.
"I do not condemn any other men's consciences," he said. "Their consciences must save them and mine must save me."
He was tried and executed for treason on June 17 1535. He was 66.
St Thomas More was the Lord Chancellor. A younger man than St John Fisher, he had a large family and household to support and said he did not wish to die.
"I am not so holy that I dare rush upon death," he said.
But he could not accept the King as supreme head of the Church or condone his divorce. Rather than make a public pronouncement he resigned from his post and hoped to retire quietly. But the King would not accept his silence. St Thomas was arrested, imprisoned at the Tower of London for 15 months and then declared guilty of treason and condemned to death.
He was executed nine days after St John Fisher. He was 57. From the scaffold he said: "I die the King's good servant, but God's first." 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
Second ReadingFrom a letter written in prison to his daughter,  Margaret, by Saint Thomas More

With good hope I shall commit myself wholly to God
Although I know well, Margaret, that because of my past wickedness I deserve to be abandoned by God, I cannot but trust in his merciful goodness. His grace has strengthened me until now and made me content to lose goods, land, and life as well, rather than to swear against my conscience. God’s grace has given the king a gracious frame of mind toward me, so that as yet he has taken from me nothing but my liberty. In doing this His Majesty has done me such great good with respect to spiritual profit that I trust that among all the great benefits he has heaped so abundantly upon me I count my imprisonment the very greatest. I cannot, therefore, mistrust the grace of God. Either he shall keep the king in that gracious frame of mind to continue to do me no harm, or else, if it be his pleasure that for my other sins I suffer in this case as I shall not deserve, then his grace shall give me the strength to bear it patiently, and perhaps even gladly.
  By the merits of his bitter passion joined to mine and far surpassing in merit for me all that I can suffer myself, his bounteous goodness shall release me from the pains of purgatory and shall increase my reward in heaven besides.
  I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how Saint Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning.
  And if he permits me to play Saint Peter further and to fall to the ground and to swear and forswear, may God our Lord in his tender mercy keep me from this, and let me lose if it so happen, and never win thereby! Still, if this should happen, afterward I trust that in his goodness he will look on me with pity as he did upon Saint Peter, and make me stand up again and confess the truth of my conscience afresh and endure here the shame and harm of my own fault.
  And finally, Margaret, I know this well: that without my fault he will not let me be lost. I shall, therefore, with good hope commit myself wholly to him. And if he permits me to perish for my faults, then I shall serve as praise for his justice. But in good faith, Meg, I trust that his tender pity shall keep my poor soul safe and make me commend his mercy.
  And, therefore, my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.
Responsory
In the midst of their sufferings, these martyrs of Christ fixed their minds on heavenly things, praying: Lord, help us to bring your work in us to a perfect end, that we may appear blameless in your sight.
Look upon your servants and upon your own handiwork. Lord, help us to bring your work in us to a perfect end, that we may appear blameless in your sight.
Let us pray.
Almighty, ever-living God,
  you set the perfection of true faith in martyrdom.
Strengthen us by the prayers of the martyrs Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More,
  so that our lives may bear witness to the faith we profess.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
  who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
  one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
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