Today, we encounter "Saint Peter Damian Offering the Rule of the Camaldolese Order to the Virgin" by Pietro da Cortona. For a reflection about this painting, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” Jesus first addresses the paralytic’s deepest need and most serious ailment in order to reveal his true mission as the Son of God: the salvation of souls. Even a miraculous restoration of physical health will not last forever, but Christ’s forgiveness means we can “rise and walk” on the last day. The scribes accuse Jesus of blasphemy because they ... fail to see their need for conversion. Let us be “struck with awe and glorify God” that we, too, can receive the forgiveness of sins. Credit: as published at MAGNIFICAT, http://www.magnificat.net, July 2, 2020. Man is ordered to the good, the true, and the beautiful because, as the Catholic Church teaches, in such things we encounter God. Today, we encounter "Christ Healing the Paralytic" by Anthony Van Dyck. For a reflection about this painting, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
This Sunday, in the Liturgy of the Mass, Catholics around the globe will celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi - from the Latin, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. St. Paul wrote vividly about what the Catholic Church believes is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; and the Catholic Church has defended the apostolic origins of this belief for two millennia. Man is ordered to the good, the true, and the beautiful because, as the Catholic Church teaches, in such things we encounter God. Today, we encounter "Allegory of the Eucharist" by Alexander Coosemans. For a reflection about this painting, and for a Catholic defense of the apostolic origins of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, please click on the image. Peace be with you!
Man is ordered to the good, the true, and the beautiful because, as the Catholic Church teaches, in such things we encounter God. Today, we encounter "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee". This painting by Rembrandt is a famous one, not only for the artist who created it, but also for the story it depicts. The story of Jesus calming the storm is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels, reported in Matthew 8:23–27, Mark 4:35–41, and Luke 8:22–25 (the Synoptic Gospels). As Catholics, when we encounter the Apostles with Jesus in the boat, it is evocative - as a great image and icon - of the Church. On the Barque of Peter we travel through the tempests and squalls of life, for sure. Yet, when we are united in our faith, in the company of one another and with Jesus, the Church will always find its way through all space and time. For more about this post, "Christian Art | Christ in the Storm" please click on the image. Peace be with you!
Man is ordered to the good, the true, and the beautiful because, as the Catholic Church teaches, in such things we encounter God. Today, we encounter "Ascension of Christ," by Rembrandt. The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day or Ascension Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., universally celebrated) feasts of Christian churches, ranking with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter, and Pentecost. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter (following the accounts given in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51 and Acts 1:2), although some Christian denominations have moved the observance to the following Sunday. In the Catholic Church in the United States, the day of observance varies by ecclesiastical province.
