May is the month traditonally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Over the coming weeks, I will be posting biographical sketches of three artists, new to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, who have revitalized Marian portraiture in unconventional ways, placing the Mother of Christ in contemporary contexts and offering her to the viewer as a universal exemplar of Christian spirituality…
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[Then, Jesus said], "Which of these three do you think was a
neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy
on him." Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
(Luke 10:36-37, NRSVue)
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"...A Samaritan while traveling came upon [the wounded man],
and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went
to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and
wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem more >>
to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped
him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now
by chance a priest was going down that road, and when
he saw him he…
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your… more >>
When Conservative Christian influencers condemn what they call "toxic empathy," it's time to get back to biblical basics and see just what Jesus had to say about compassion for neighbors and strangers in his cornerstone parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, where he holds up the Samaritan, a figure much reviled by his Jewish audience, as the…
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Easter says to us that despite everything to the contrary,
[God’s] will for us will prevail, love will prevail over hate,
justice over injustice and oppression, peace over exploitation
and bitterness.
Desmond Tutu from John Templeton Foundation sermon
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Christ is Risen!
He is Risen, Indeed!
HAPPY…
You just need to look at what the gospel asks and what war
does. The Gospel asks that we feed the hungry, give drink
to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the homeless, visit
the prisoner, and perform acts of mercy. War does all the
opposite. It makes my neighbor hungry, thirsty, homeless,
There is great pain and suffering in the world. But the more >>
pain hardest to bear is your own. Once you have taken
up that cross, you will be able to see clearly the crosses
that others have to bear, and you will be able to reveal to
them their own ways to joy, peace, and…
As holy defender of God’s rights and of his images, the church more >>
must cry out. It takes as spittle in its face, as lashes on its back,
as the cross in its passion, all that human beings suffer, even
though they be unbelievers…Whoever tortures a human being,
whoever abuses a human being, whoever…
The Lord sometimes makes you feel the weight of the cross.
Although the weight seems intolerable, you are able to carry it,
because the Lord, in His love and mercy, extends a hand to you
and gives you strength.
Padre Pio
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There is a great freedom that comes when the cross we refuse more >>
to accept becomes the cross we embrace…Being blocked by one
impasse in life, we discover whole new ways of being alive. We
find new life in the small deaths of the day. We sink into the
ultimate liberation. Now there is nothing in…
That cross is already there, ready, from the very beginning; more >>
we need only take it up. But to keep us from believing that
we must simply choose any arbitrary cross, or simply pick
out our suffering as we will, Jesus emphasizes that each of
us has his or her own cross, ready, appointed,…
"Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear. To be a Christian one must take up his cross, with all its difficulties and agonizing and tension-packed content and carry it until that very cross leaves its mark upon us and redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering".
…
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The defunding and dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) just over a year ago deeply disturbs me. I’m usually very private about such things, but since I don’t know what to do with this sadness and rage, this image is my lament. It is created with pure emotion, without proper proportions or certain design elements.
…
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"if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." (Mark 3:25. KJV) more >>
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other."
(Luke 16:13,…
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19, NIV)
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve…As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua… more >>
The Coventry Carol
Unknown Composer
Robert Croo (lyricist)
Lully, lullay, thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lully, lullay.
Thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do more >>
…
The Three Wise Kings
Ruben Dario (Author)
Salomon de la Selva (Translator)
My name is Kaspar. I the incense bear. more >>
The glamor of the Star has made me wise.
I say that love is vaster than the skies.
And God exists. And Life is pure and fair.
My…
"I Wonder, As I Wander"
John Jacob Niles (adapter)
When Mary birthed Jesus, 'twas in a cow's stall
with wise men and farmers and shepherd and all.
but high from God's heaven a star's light did fall,
and the promise of ages it did then recall.
I wonder as I wander, out under… more >>
Bethlehem
Babatunde Olatunji (Composer)
Wendell P. Whalum (Arranger)
We are glad that we have a Father to trust. more >>
We are glad to have a Father to rely upon.
Where was Jesus born?
Where was he born?
Bethlehem the city of wonder.
That is where the Father was born for sure.
…
The Carol of the Birds
William G. James (music)
John Wheeler (lyrics)
Out on the plains, the brolgas are dancing more >>
Lifting their feet like horses prancing
Up to the sun, the woodlarks go winging
…
Here, Mid the Ass and Oxen Mild
Traditional French Carol
Charles Winfred Douglas (Translator)
Here, mid the ass and oxen mild, more >>
Sleep, sleep, sleep my little Child
Thousand seraphim, thousand…
On the Night of Christmas (Laylat-al-Milad)
Lebanese Maronite Carol
Unknown composer, lyricist, and translator
When we offer a glass of water to a thirsty person, we are in Christmas more >>
When we clothe a naked person with a gown of love, we are in Christmas
When we wipe the tears from weeping eyes, we are…
The Carol of the Bells
Mykola Leontovych (Music)
Peter Wilhousky (Lyrics)
Hark! how the bells more >>
…
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!
John Francis Wade (English); Translator: Frederick Oakeley (1841)
Merchandising America has pushed forward the beginning of the holidays so cash registers have more time to ring. We'll be taking advantage…
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[The Lord] will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.(Psalm 91:4, NIV)
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were… more >>
Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him… more >>
When a large crowd was gathering, as people were coming to him from town after town, [Jesus] said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed some fell on a path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.
And a certain scribe came, and said unto [Jesus], Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Matthew 6:19-20, KJV)
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[Jesus] put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come… more >>
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor… more >>
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in… more >>
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.' (Exodus 19:2, NIV)
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft, t
He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
They give drink to every beast of the field:
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
(Psalm 104:10-12, KJV)
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How lovely is your dwelling place, more >>
Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the…
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” So he did what the… more >>
The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of… more >>
And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made...He sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was… more >>
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after… more >>
Who teaches us more than the animals of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’ Job 35:11
After a summer pause, the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is back on-line with a series devoted to biblical "bird-watching," showcasing images of birds depicted as actors and emblems in sacred narratives from the Hebrew Scriptures and…
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The Sacred Art Pilgrim is taking time off to
"cultivate his garden" and will be back
on-line in August.
Have a good summer!
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My final type of Marian image this month is known among Western Christians as The Virgin of Mercy and among Eastern Christians as The Protection of the Mother of God, where Mary spreads a cloak or veil to offer a place of safety to the needy. I have three variations from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection to present, beginning…
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