“”the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.” Latest work, inspired by the painting by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner (1700). Mary is the new “Eve.” Her obedienceContinue Reading
Mary, Undoer of Knots is an ancient devotion of the Church popularized by Pope Francis. Mary is sometimes referred to as the new Eve. Her obedience to God’s plan, undid the knot of Eve’s disobedience. In the second century, Saint Irenaeus wrote, “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied byContinue Reading
“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Luke 10:42 There is a classic argument between Catholic and non-Catholic Christian communities. Are we saved by faith alone or we saved by works? It is sometimes difficult to respond to this because the argument starts with aContinue Reading
“as we travel the nave from west to east we are traveling through salvation history” The Gothic writ large In studying the Gothic style, with the aim of restoring it as a living tradition, we are sometimes faced with the challenge of finding liturgical examples. Byzantine iconography is relatively easyContinue Reading
“By His Ascension He is now always everywhere.” The Ascension of the Lord is a Solemnity in the calendar of the Church, a feast-day of the highest rank. By the 11th century several different patterns had developed to depict the event. The elements common to all the compositions are theContinue Reading
“the great tragedy of the artistic temperament is that it cannot produce any art.” As Jesus continues to prepare his followers for the time when He will no longer be visible, He imparts to us a great gift, peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.”Continue Reading
“Obedience does not rob us of our freedom, rather it frees us to employ the full range of our gifts and talents in service to the Master.” French archbishop Francois Fenelon said this about obedience. “It is not the multitude of hard duties, it is not constraint and contention thatContinue Reading
“The work of the Church)…is to build the Kingdom of God, to bring more and more people into the friendship of Christ” The Woman Clothed with the Sun Titus Flavius Domitianus, known to history as Domitian, became emperor of Rome in A.D. 81. He was the first emperor to proclaimContinue 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
“At the core of the family is faith” The Faith of Joseph Through the seasons of Advent and Christmas we focus much on Jesus and Mary. It was through Mary’s fiat that Jesus came into the world, fulfilling God’s plan to save us from the ravages of sin and death.Continue Reading