“We are surrounded by miracles, every day, but we have become so accustomed to them we fail to see them.” The Camel An old story tells us about the first time man saw a camel. According to the story the first man to ever see a camel was frightened byContinue Reading
From the Rheinau Psalter, circa A.D. 1260 In his book “The Spirit of the Liturgy,” Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, touches upon the difference between the Iconographic art form and the Gothicart form. “The depiction(in the Gothic) is no longer of the Pantocrator, the Lord of all, leading us intoContinue Reading
“Faith is the remedy for fear. If we have faith, there is little we need fear.” It sometimes seems that our pilgrimage here on earth takes us through a landscape of fear. We are surrounded by circumstances and situations we do not understand, and ignorance can lead us toContinue Reading
“Go to Joseph” There is a story that explains why Saint Joseph is often depicted with a flowering staff. According to tradition, The Virgin Mary was consecrated to the Temple. She lived within the Temple complex and was by the men and women who also lived there, filling their variousContinue Reading
“Jesus seems to sleep through all this, curled up in the bow of the boat.” For the most part we, that is contemporary society, have isolated ourselves from the natural world. We live in climate controlled homes that are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Electric lightContinue Reading
Reclaiming the Gothic Over at “The Way of Beauty” David Clayton has written often about the importance of re-establishing the Gothic Style as a living tradition. He describes one such model from the Rheinau Psalter here. Along with the Iconographic and the Baroque, the Gothic form is identified by Pope BenedictContinue Reading
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” The 1970 film “Patton” depicts the role of General George S. Patton during World War II. At one point, during the allied invasion of Sicily, Patton’s army is stuck unableContinue Reading
“let us bring the burdens of our lives to be transformed by the mysteries of your Body and Blood into the grace that redeems both us and the world.” A traditional “Western” icon, Christ in Majesty. After the Great Schism between the east and west. The Western Church continued toContinue Reading
“God did not establish a contract with His people, He established a covenant.” Contracts and covenants are part of our daily lives but they are very different things. Our society is governed in large part by contracts. These contracts may be formal or informal, written or oral, and usually involveContinue Reading
“One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.” -St. Joan of Arc Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. I wanted to depictContinue Reading