The Fifth Glorious Mystery ~ Mary is Queen

This photograph is of the mosaic apse of Mary's Coronation in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) in Rome. The mosaic series was completed in 1296. Saints and angels abound. In the center there is a great aureole, an orb of stars representing the cosmos. On left and right there are the coiling branches of acanthus trees offering shelter to all kinds of birds. 

Our Father...

It is said that Pope Liberius received news in a dream that the Virgin Mary would pick the site in Rome for a basilica to be dedicated to her. Then on August 5th, the Roman Esquiline hill was covered with snow. Liberius traced the perimeter of the basilica in the snow. August! Did it actually happen that way? Doesn't matter. What matters is that I be prepared and walk the path God opens before me - even in its surprise. Surprises - like snow in summer.

Hail Mary...

The Basilica of St. Mary Major has the tallest belfry in Rome, housing five bells. One is named "La Sperduta" - the lost one. This bell rings every night at 9. Might we share this title with Mary and pray: Crowned Mother of the Lost Ones, of those who are lost in inner chaos or darkness, who have disappeared, who are lost in power abuse, lost in addictions, lost in life's troubles, pray for us.

Hail Mary...

In the Litany of Loreto, Mary is given the title, "Queen of Peace." We prepare for war and spend incomprehensible amounts of money to ready for war. We celebrate war heroes and treat history as a series of wars. Some cathedrals feature the disintegrating banners and flags of war throughout. Would that we studied peace as eagerly, how to create it, sustain it, advance it. "If you want peace, create justice," Pope Paul VI said. Do we even now what that means?

Hail Mary...

The First World War began July 28, 1914. "The thrill of war" we say - excited then to use the newest war technology: tanks, airplanes, submarines, machine guns, flame throwers, poison gas. More than 9 million soldiers, sailors and airmen were killed before it was all over, November 11, 1918. The most deadly war in history. Queen of Peace, have we learned anything?

Hail Mary...

In 1995 Pope John Paul II added, Queen of Families to Mary's Litany of Loreto. We pray for dysfunctional families, addicted families, families of divorce and separation, migrant and displaced families, unbelieving families, families living in poverty and financial insecurity, families ruled by domestic violence...

Hail Mary...

Some people say that the only legitimate families are those comprised of married mother and father with children. But that definition leaves much of the world outside of Mary's care. 40% of babies born in the United States are born to unwed mothers. In our country, 27% of children under 18 live in single parent homes. And what are we to do with phrases that speak of parish family, human family, family of nations. Mary's mother-embrace is wide, wider, widest, don't you think?

Hail Mary...

There is a shrine-church in Orlando, Florida called, "Queen of the Universe." The universe is the new frontier. But for why? So we have a place to which we can escape when we have succeeded in rendering this planet uninhabitable - a ball of extinction, ash and trash? Is the universe the safe vantage we establish the better to bomb our enemies? Or is universe the dazzling, wondrous evidence of God's limitless imagination?  

Hail Mary...

Might we add our own title, honoring Mary's Queenship? Perhaps, Queen of the World's Children.  Pray that every child would be welcomed and loved. Pray for the girls around the world who are kept out of school, the young boys who are pressed into being soldiers, the children of arranged marriages, the children who are enslaved in work or sex trade.

Hail Mary...

The entire mosaic is suffused with acanthus leaves and flowers. Its roots have curative powers (may our nation be healed of all this hatred). It symbolizes immortality (may we see Jesus face-to-face in heaven). Solicitude for lowly things (may we learn the heart of the Gospel - love for the littlest and the poorest). 

Hail Mary...

On the far bottom left there are three saints, left to right: a young St. Francis of Assisi, St. Paul and St. Peter. And just in front of St. Peter, but before the entourage of angels, is a little pope in a red chasuble. That is Pope Nicholas IV - the pope responsible for the creation of this golden mosaic-window into heaven. May we pray for the Pope of Rome who navigates the Church through dangers - like a great ship finding its way through an ice field.

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Fourth Glorious Mystery ~ the Assumption of Mary

The East calls Mary's Assumption by a different name: The Dormition. Dormition means, Falling Asleep. Some theologians debate whether Mary actually died, as death is a result of original sin. But Pope John Paul II kind of settled that when he taught us that Mary is not higher than her Son, and Jesus died. 

Here, Mary has fallen asleep in death. Her body is resting on a bier or catafalque. The apostles, taking up a lot of room have gathered from near and far to pay their respects. Peter is at the  head of the bier with a thurible; Paul is prayerful by Mary's feet.The three men on the right wearing white vestments with crosses are early first century bishops. On the far left are halo-ed angels. We can see their upright traveling staves. Mary's "girl friends"  have gathered to mourn and pray - three on the far right and one, talking with an angel, on the far right. Jesus is in the heavenly place holding Mary's "all-luminous soul" depicted as a child in swaddling clothes. The holy city of Jerusalem is spread out behind the scene.

Our Father...

Before the Gospel is proclaimed at the Assumption Day Mass we sing: Assumpta est Maria...Mary is taken up into heaven, the Angels rejoice, and bless God with songs of praise. The ancient Gregorian chant, still sung in some monasteries around the world, is tender and glad.

Hail Mary...

The Eastern Church sings this day: "The grave and death could not retain the Mother of Life, for Her Son has transported her into the life of the future age." The final end of humankind is already realized in Mary - a human being made God. It's called Deification.

Hail Mary...

An extra-biblical text tells us that Mary, wanting to see the apostles before her death, prayed at the Mount of Olives and angels mystically transported the apostles from near and far to her deathbed. Christians live near and far, around the world. Not a few suffer terribly. The countries where the persecution of Christians is most grievous: North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, Eritrea, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, China and Iran.

Hail Mary...

So much loss in our world. And this week, homemade bombs were sent through the mail to high profile people in our nation and then on Saturday, the murdering of Jewish worshippers in a Pittsburg synagogue: the loss of decency, civility, respect, unity and community. The nation is dis-spirited and dismayed. But God is no loser. Mary is taken up out of the world of decay to the promised place of glory and fullness of life. 

Hail Mary...

When we were young and little and we knew the grown-ups were going somewhere, we'd sing out, "I want to go too. We dreaded the thought of being left out; left behind. Jesus and Mary have gone to heaven even in their bodies! I want to go too!

Hail Mary...

St. John Damascene addresses the Virgin Mary in a homily for her feast day: "You have penetrated even to the royal throne of your Son himself...a blessing for the world, a sanctification of the universe, refreshment for those who are tired, comfort for the sorrowing, healing for the sick, a port for those in danger, pardon for sinners, soothing balm for the oppressed, quick help for all who pray to you..."

Hail Mary...

But what does Mary do now in her Assumption? She lives her Son's commandment, "Love one another." She patterns the new lifestyle that says we don't have to hate people. We don't have to kill people with weapons - even weapons of words and thoughts. All around the world, people claim to receive messages from Mary. But there's really one message: If you're going to follow my Son, it isn't okay to hate people. 

Hail Mary...

Most pictures of the Assumption show Mary zooming off into heavenly space. Lovely, but not especially helpful. Mary's life has ended here and now she enters into God's inner life, which is a life of family. "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  We are baptized for community. And in heaven we will be assumed into that life of relatedness we call Trinity. No more isolation, marginalization - no more being turned away.

Hail Mary...

Notice at the center of the icon, the body of the Mother of God forms a horizontal line while Christ in the body-halo (called a mandala) forms a vertical line pointing upward. And St. Paul writes: But earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way. Our life of desires often keeps us earthbound. St. Paul has in mind that we would embrace a higher lifestyle of love - actively wishing the good of the other.

Hail Mary...

Some people might say, "I can't pray to Mary." Then we might consider praying with Mary. She prayed in the upper room with the apostles; wouldn't she pray still? And what might that prayer consist of? Praising God, who continually brings life out of seemingly impossible places. Thanking God, whose mercies are eternal despite our awful mistakes, our folly. And that we would be God-Bearers too - keeping Jesus at the center!

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

Shhh!

End October, the 1400 year-old Ginkgo Tree of the Guanyin Temple in Xi'an City, China, turns to gold, dropping thousands of brilliant leaves. People come from around the world to photograph the wonder. 

Beneath this online photo we read: "A monk poses for visitors in front of the tree in full autumn color."  May I make a correction and assure all of us - the monk is not posing for first world photographers. He's sitting. Just sitting, and present to the venerable tree, which falling leaves are raining on his straw hat. 

This is an important picture to hold, in a culture persistently forgetful of stillness, silence, presence—exhausted with shopping and news of more violence.

Young monk
on golden pond,

forgive the intrusion.

I'll sit beside you, 

behind you,

quietly;

you won't know that I am there.

You're not looking at the Buddha,

not even at the tree,

but listening to every tap

of Ginkgo-leaf

on your wide brimmed bamboo hat,

grateful for its gifts—

   the shade made,

   the air purified,

   the oxygen produced,

   the two-tiered beauty offered,

   now

in the fullness of

surrender.

The Third Glorious Mystery ~ The Descent of the Spirit

Our Father...

El Greco painted this Pentecost image to be placed over the altar for a seminary chapel in Madrid. The young seminarians would have felt themselves to be in the lower level (on the bottom step) with Peter and John, who we see from behind. Their eyes would then have moved up towards the Mother of God, and the Spirit, whose rays of new energy cascaded down on them. Powerful stuff!

Hail Mary...

"And there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them." These are not tidy, birthday cake flames come down, easily extinguished, but alive. Kind of blowtorch flames. The Holy Spirit is an ignite-r. Do I feel that in my own life?

Hail Mary...

"The tongues of fire came to rest on the head of each of  them." Who is them? Acts 1:14 tells us: "With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary the mother of  Jesus, and with his brothers." El Greco includes them. We see Mary Magdalen at Mary's left shoulder and Martha, second over from Mary's right shoulder. A lot of young women want a voice in the life of the Church. Does that threaten me?

Hail Mary...

Paintings of the Spirit's Descent always show the event taking place within a geographical space, allowing the artist to show off his architectural drawing skills. But not here. El Greco paints nothing more than a couple of steps and something resembling an arch fragment above left. Holy Spirit descends into a world of dark fabrications and fears, suspicions, maneuverings and exploitations.

Hail Mary...

Look how elongated El Greco's figures are. Holy Spirit stretches us. A rural parish of two hundred families raised enough money to buy a truck for an African nun who took in Nigerian AIDS orphans. Shortly after that project they raised the money to buy and install a well for an African village. They gave their weekly BINGO proceeds to help organizations like the one which funds the corrective cleft palette surgeries of young children. That's Holy Spirit!

Hail Mary...

A boy told his father that he was being bullied in school. The father tracked down the offending boy and discovered that he was being bullied himself because of his dirty shoes and torn pants. Rather than coming down hard on the boy, he took the two shopping and  bought new shoes and pants for both. The two became friends; solving a serious problem with love. That's Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary... 

El Greco's painting doesn't look like a camera's static group shot. Instead, he shows us an animated, informal mix of people, whose body language and facial expressions are reacting individually and collectively, with awe and excitement to a miraculous event! Holy Spirit blows divine energies into us; it sparks something new.

Hail Mary...

El Greco's work was anti-naturalistic. That means he didn't try to do what a camera would have done. Rather, in his painting he attempted to discover and present new, even inexhaustible possibilities. It's said of him that he believed grace to be the supreme search or purpose of art. That doesn't mean he only painted religious themes - but the quest of art is to discover the close, energizing, everywhere presence of God. Wow!

Hail Mary...

In doing so, El Greco's style broke all the rules and didn't fit into any of the conventional and acceptable art schools of his day. His critics used words like these to describe his work: "contemptible, ridiculous, worthy of scorn, strange, queer, eccentric, odd, sunk in eccentricity, madness." But these are the kinds of words that should be used to describe Christians. Instead, lots of Christian's are nothing but conventional. 

Hail Mary...

In the Pentecost account the signs of the Spirit's presence are fire and wind. We often see a dove present as well, recalling the Spirit's presence at Jesus' Jordan Baptism (Mk 1:9-11). Here, all the figures are looking upwards at that dove - symbol of God's hovering, creative energies. All the figures but one. Top row, second from the right is a figure who is looking out at us! El Greco has painted himself into the scene. He's even placed the Pentecost flame on his own head. I must never content myself with being a spiritual bystander or admire-r; I want to be a participant.

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Second Glorious Mystery ~ The Ascension

I have left this photograph of Giotto's Ascension (1305) large because it is so beautiful and deserves an up-close look. The Ascension is one of 39 fresco images Giotto painted for the Scrovegni Chapel near Padua, Italy. Fresco is painting on damp plaster.

The images, scenes from the Life of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, are arranged in three bands around the side walls of the rather small space. To experience them (visitors get a precious 15 minutes in the chapel before the air has to be exchanged) is to feel wrapped in brilliant color. Giotto gives us alive scenes, new colors and faces expressive of deep emotion. In starting something new, he is sometimes called, Father of the Renaissance.

Our Father...

Giotto has filled his upper space with a crowd of saints and angels. Kneeling below, the apostles are gathered with Mary. Earth-angels, like teachers at the head of the class, raise fingers to make a point: We're all in this together and headed for tragedy when we forget it and treat each other badly.

Hail Mary...

We're familiar with the scriptural text in the Acts of the Apostles, of Jesus' ascending into Heaven. But Giotto shows Jesus in a unique profile, as if he is climbing. We think of Moses climbing Mount Sinai. Now Jesus is the new Moses who sums up the Sinai Law: Love God and love other people.

Hail Mary...

The Mother of God is up front with five or six apostles on either side. Judas (who hanged himself) has not  yet been replaced. They look heavenward. Some shield their eyes with raised hands. Each face is distinct. God sees and treasures each of us as individuated and unique persons. We are not mass-produced.

Hail Mary...

In the ancient world many gods carried weapons, albeit some to combat evil. But Jesus carries nothing in his hands. Here, his empty hands are open, imploring, receptive. Hands matter, but as extensions of the heart.

Hail Mary...

Jesus' hands break beyond the border of the scene. Did Giotto miscalculate the space, or is there more? Key word: beyond. "Look beyond the bread you eat, see your Savior and your Lord..." the late 1960's hymn instructed us. Can I look beyond the outer appearances of people - to  understand others in their struggles, hopes and sorrows? My brother; my sister.

Hail Mary...

Giotto is called The Father of the Renaissance. Renaissance means: new birth. Have I ever experienced a personal renaissance? A new way of praying, a new way of being with God, a new politic (Gospel-infused), a new way of imagination, a new creativity, a new way of taking care of myself, a new way of...

Hail Mary...

In many places the Church is dressed in the rags of humiliation and shame. Pray the Church to be dressed anew in the bright colors of grace: a fresh Christ-center, clothed in justice, accountability, hospitable welcome, humility, simplicity.

Hail Mary...

A terrible toxicity of hate, name calling, division and otherism was unleashed some years ago in our country. Everyday reveals some new embittered insult. Even threats of violence and menace are manifesting. May the unity of Giotto's Ascension calm the savage breast. 

Hail Mary...

It is said that in the chapel atop the mountain of Christ's Ascension, we can see the footprints of Jesus in the stone. For real? It doesn't matter, only that in our considering them we ponder the God who has walked with us, so to change us from indifference to awareness and willingness. St. Ignatius saw these "footprints" and was changed from randy soldier to founder of the Society of Jesus.

Hail Mary...

Usually the angels of the Ascension are up in the sky with Jesus - even holding him, seated in a body halo. But Giotto has them hovering just above the ground with the Apostles. Heaven and earth are not separate geographic places, like rooms in a great house. Earth is full of heaven already. These angels seem to say, "Snap out of it; there's work to be done." 

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

Intercessions ~ Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the Gospel account today,/ we hear Bartimaeus call out,/ "Son of David, have mercy on me!"/ We pray for people all around the world who call out for mercy:/ who are poor,/ anguished,/ lonely,/ disabled./ We pray to the Lord.

As Jesus asks Bartimaeus,/ so he asks the Church today:/ "What do you want me to do for you?"/ We ask for the Church to rise up renewed from this time of scandal,/ weakness and shame./ We pray  to the Lord. 

We pray for the members of our families,/ for the healing of broken hearts,/ for help where we have perhaps disappointed,/ failed,/ or even wronged others,/ for those weakened by addiction and wrong choices./ We pray to the Lord.

Again we pray for those who are struggling to recover after recent storms,/ for the safety of travelers,/ for job-seekers and those who are sleepless with money concerns./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the President of the United Sates/ and all in positions of leadership and government./ May they have servant-hearts./ We pray to the Lord.

Finally,/ as by now the trees have let go of most of their leaves,/ we pray to let go of pride/ and the holding on to old wounds and affronts/ that keep us distracted and enslaved./ We pray to the Lord.

Praying with the Pope in the Month of October ~ The First Glorious Mystery ~ Christ's Resurrection

Our Father...

This is Matthias Grunewald's Resurrection of Christ painted between 1512-1516. It was created for the hospital chapel of St. Anthony's Monastery in Isenheim, Germany, where it offered a window into brightness for the sick and dying. We might look not just at it but into it, and ask for our Church and Nation, the restoration of hope and joy.

Hail Mary...

We need to call upon the mystery of Christ's rising, and the brilliant life of this image, which was meant for plague victims and those suffering from skin disorders, infections and hallucinations. Hate and anger are our "infecting plague" today - often accompanied by hallucinations about other people. 

Hail Mary...

Grunewald isn't trying to do what a camera would have done had photography been available in the 16th century. This master artist wanted to convey a vision beyond a newspaper report. Look closely! What vision of God does it share with me personally?

Hail Mary...

Here, a weightless Christ hovers over the stone tomb and the guards. These men are not sleeping, but reptile-like are slithering away, as if in pain, before Christ's Resurrection brilliance. They are dazzled and overwhelmed. Am I ever dazzled and overwhelmed by God? Or is that just God's technique to win over enemies?

Hail Mary...

Christ rises, held in a  yellow, red and orange body-halo. He streaks like a fireball against the black background. The darkness and the soldiers are in crisis! St. Oscar Romero said, "A Church that does not provoke crisis, a gospel that does not disturb, a word of God that does not touch the concrete sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed - what kind of gospel is that?"

Hail Mary...

But these soldiers are resistant to that crisis and disturbance. They are heavily armoured and padded. The soldier in the foreground has his head and upper body wrapped in impenetrable chain mail. Two hold onto their swords. What sadness - the Christian who does not surrender gracefully to Christ, but remains protective of old ideologies, prejudices, and resentments. 

Hail Mary...

I do not come to Christ to admire him, however brilliant and exultant, but to be transformed as his wounds are transformed. Here we see Christ's painful Good Friday wounds now radiant and jewel-like. Even my personal wounds can be transformed!

Hail Mary...

The long shroud, which had swaddled Christ in the tomb, is now swirling and rippling; full of color and light. The cloth, painted 500 years ago, seems to anticipate the photographs that super telescopes are sending back from outer space beyond our galaxy. A risen Christ whose message and meaning transcends everything we know!

Hail Mary...

There is a huge bolder behind the risen Jesus. It seems to be floating with him - an impossible heaviness lifted! Can I name that? An addiction? An illness or personal problem that seemed to be crushing me? Some loss or sorrow I survived and out of which I have even flourished?

Hail Mary...

The Risen-One stands in the midst of deep darkness. During the seven long decades of Soviet rule, a Romanian Christian who had witnessed the destruction of churches and every religious institution, and the exiling and death of countless priests, said about that encroaching darkness: "So long as one person stands before an icon, the presence of God endures." Let's hold onto that thought and this image, in our own time of menacing darkness.

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery ~ The Crucifixion

There are four sets of rosary mysteries. This Fifth Sorrowful Mystery - The Crucifixion - completes the third set. Responding to the invitation of Pope Francis to pray the rosary through the month of October, next week, we will end both month and meditation with the Glorious Mysteries. 

The photograph above is of the mosaic in the curved apse in the 12th century Roman Church of San Clemente. It depicts the Cross as the Tree of Life.

Our Father...

This mosaic image depicts the crucifix not as an instrument of death and defeat but as a tree of life. "The Wisdom of God is a true tree of life to all that lay hold of her." Proverbs 3:18. Get the image: At Calvary, the tree of God's wisdom was planted in the earth. And what is this wisdom? We must not get lost in any vague or false mystical talk - it is God's idea or vision for us of how to love God and other people.

Hail Mary...

Under the arms of the cross we see Jesus' Mother and the disciple John. Jesus is at work until his last breath, entrusting his mother and the disciple to each other's care. Mary is the first disciple. Jesus is telling us we are to take each other in. Disciples belong to each other as family. The people knocking on the door of the nation's southern border are disciples of Jesus as much as all the folks who sit next to us at Sunday Mass. While some would want it to be otherwise - it's not about politics.

Hail Mary...

Look! Instead of the usual INRI sign on the top of the cross, there are a dozen doves roosting on both horizontal and vertical bars. And there are numerous birds throughout the larger scene. Maybe they are looking for a place to call home. Following Jesus, who is a tree of life, there is invitation and room for everyone. Oh Jesus, that we would allow your tree of life to be home - truly!

Hail Mary...

Christianity didn't invent the mark of the cross. Some ancient alphabets have a cross or X as a letter. A person who can't sign his or her name leaves a simple X. A bird in full flight, with wings extended, is a cross in the sky. But the Christian has new insights: the Cross is the love of God planted here; its points extending north, south, east and west. The love of God, encompassing every living thing.

Hail Mary...

Notice under the tree-cross there is the lamb with a nimbus, who is Christ Risen. On either side there are sheep - six and six. We don't always need to say, "Oh, that must be the twelve apostles." The sheep reference may well be that Gospel flock of one hundred that the Lord is so protective of. He doesn't want ninety-nine, but his full one hundred. (Matthew 18:12-14).

Hail Mary...

Though this church apse is full of life: streams of water, stretching branches, twining vines, flying birds and drinking deer, it is also a place of tears. "At the cross her station keeping; stood the mournful mother weep..." The bishop-martyr, Oscar Romero said: "There are many things that can only be seen trough  eyes that have cried." 

Hail Mary...

Now it is reported that in those countries where abortion is legal, 98% of pregnancies with potential disabilities are terminated. "Potential disabilities!" Under the Tree of Life mosaic, can I weep for that?

Hail Mary...

A group of mothers, all of whom had teen-aged children whose lives were shredded by addictions, said that they would give their own lives to save the lives of their children. St. Juliana calls Jesus, "Our Mother."  

Hail Mary...

Everything Jesus said and did, but especially his self-gift at Calvary, gave expression to the words of St. Paul: "Make love your aim." 1 Corinthians 14:1

Hail Mary...

The great Tree of Life mosaic in the San Clemente Church is an experience of light and more light. Many nations of the world have veered off into shadow. May the followers of Jesus help to lead humankind back to a path of light.

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery ~ Jesus Carries the Cross

We are praying our way through the Rosary Mysteries in solidarity with the Pope's request in turbulent times. The painting is by Titian: Christ Carrying the Cross.

Our Father...

In images of Jesus carrying the cross, Jesus is usually looking at a specific person: his mother, Veronica, Simon or the women of Jerusalem. But here, Titian has Jesus looking directly at us - each of us individually and all of us collectively. 

Hail Mary...

More often than not, Jesus is depicted wearing pretty clean clothes as he walks the Calvary way. But not here - Titian's Jesus is wearing a very dirty tunic. He carries all of human dirty-ness. Some people can't think of sin beyond our third grade examination of conscience. Maybe Jesus is looking into the big-desked offices where contracts are signed for weapons that will be used to burn and blow up children. Jesus carries that dirt.

Hail Mary...

In the top left corner we see Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus to carry the cross (Mark 15:21). He is a quiet presence, coming out of shadow. His eyes are fixed on Jesus. The Gospel tells us that Simon was "pressed" into carrying the cross. Titian seems to have softened that. Conversion brings change: a change of mind; a change of heart.

Hail Mary...

Ancient Cyrene is thought to be in Northern Africa. A recent newspaper article reporting on the lucrative business presence of China in Africa is titled: Chinese Bring Investment, and Racism, to Nairobi. Why does this hateful attitude towards Africa and its descendents persist? It is very wrong. An African man helped the anguished Jesus.

Hail Mary...

We're told that helpful Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. It seems that later these sons became esteemed Christians. We might wonder if and how their father's Good Friday witness impacted them, and here we're thinking about it more than 2000 years later. St. Maximilian Kolbe, the martyr of Auschwitz said, the smallest acts of kindness ripple to eternity.

Hail Mary...

The account of Jesus walking to Calvary is filled with emotion. It invites us to wonder: how did Simon feel about the Romans forcing him into service? It's probably safe to say he was surprised. Mother Teresa said, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." There are the small and daily events that surprise and delight us, but there are also the surprises of God's presence and new direction that might shock us.

Hail Mary...

It was common practice to offer pain killing drugs to men going to execution. The women Jesus met along the road likely offered more than tears. The soldiers offered Jesus drug-laced wine at the top of the hill. We live in an intoxicated nation: drunk on power, pornography, alcohol and food overdose, shopping. Is it unreasonable to think that here, Jesus is inviting us to a new depth of sobriety?

Hail Mary...

Only love explains why Jesus would accept this kind of suffering. I am left silent. But it was Jesus who taught us that love sums up all that religion has to teach us. Love is Jesus' new commandment. It is the characteristic that must mark or distinguish his followers.

Hail Mary...

There are extra biblical accounts that tell us about events that might have happened along the Calvary way. We learn of Veronica who tried to clean and dry the face of Jesus. As the world goes, that doesn't sound like such a big deal. But Mother Teresa also taught us, "Do small things with great love." 

Hail Mary...

Jesus is surrounded by brutality. We're told later that most of his friends ran away. How awful is that. But might we consider Simon and Veronica to be new friends? We learn in the crucifixion scene that Mary and John stayed near, and Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were present at least for Jesus' burial. The world can be a friendless place.

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Third Sorrowful Mystery ~ The Crowning With Thorns

Jorg Breu l'Ancien ~ Jesus Crowned withThorns

Our Father...

Sometimes young people who have gotten themselves into trouble say in self defense: "We were just having fun." But these cruel men have gone way beyond anything  that could be called fun. The royal thorn-crown, the genuflecting, the ridiculous cloak are all fake. Bullying is nothing new. The world is full of bullies who will not go away. I pray never to get laughs off of someone else's vulnerability.

Hail Mary...

There is a powerful scene in Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. Mary (somehow perceiving) is wandering around a courtyard. She stops and presses her face and hands to the pavement. The camera moves down through the ground to the prison cell where Jesus is chained. He looks up to the ceiling. Is this just melodrama? I would say instead: deeply human.

Hail Mary...

When the mocking thugs were finished with Jesus, perhaps his deepest pain was loneliness. The world is filled with loneliness: the asylum seekers who are told to go away, patients in hospitals and nursing homes, children and parents separated from each other, city wanderers, people forgotten in apartments. And there are those who, like Jesus, sit in prison cells. God sees.  

Hail Mary...

We might recall the strange story of Abraham being told to sacrifice his son, Isaac. (Genesis 22:1-19). He is obedient, but just before taking the boy's life, an angel holds back the father's knife and a ram is discovered with its head caught in the thorns. For Abraham's obedience, the ram will suffice. But now Jesus wears the thorns around his head. There are to be no more animal sacrifices. Jesus, in his self-gift, made in  love for us, satisfies every dark claim against us. Everything is new.

Hail Mary...

The thorns of the crown go deeply into Jesus' head. They seem to invade and punish the mind of Jesus where his thoughts of light originate. But do the thorns also somehow amend the worst thoughts of our world: the thoughts of self aggrandizement; ethnicity; the greedy thoughts that abuse the planet and every living thing; the demonizing, hateful thoughts of others; even the non-thoughts which are our personal blind spots?

Hail Mary...

In the ancient world, kings and planets wore crowns. Now Jesus wears his crown of thorns. He rules a new kind of kingdom. "The King of Love my Shepherd is..." Christians sing. Buddhism might use the word compassion: A kingdom of compassion. That I might wish everyone happiness and to be freed of suffering. 

Hail Mary...

The brutes in this painting are working hard, pressing the thorn-crown into Jesus' head with long sticks, so they don't get stuck themselves. There are people like that - they cause pain and sadness from a distance. They then lie, distract or defend to keep blame from attaching itself to them. 

Hail Mary...

This genuflecting guy in the ill-fitting underwear, who is making stupid faces at Jesus - he might be one of the spitters the Gospel mentions. There is physical spitting but also verbal spitting. Ugly. Bishop Untener asks: The men who spit at Jesus turned their rejection of him into a physical act, and that we must remember the other Gospel scene where Jesus mixed his saliva with dirt, making a mud paste to heal the blind man's eyes (John 9:1-41). Is this ugly spitting of the soldiers the world's way of repaying Jesus for that act of mercy?

Hail Mary...

In Lent we sing, "O Sacred Head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn..." I won't be expected to wear a thorn-crown. But God might otherwise stick, poke or prod me with some new idea about Himself. God might puncture some old much-protected idea I have about the meaning of my life or about how I perceive other people. Whatever it is, once I meet Jesus wearing the crown of thorns, it can't be business as usual.

Hail Mary...

Through this long night of abuse, the Gospels record no word of Jesus. He did not curse or threaten. What were his thoughts? The people making all the noise were the brutish guards. Social media airwaves are filled with people objecting and complaining about everything - much of it about unimportant things in a world of great suffering. Sometimes we're silently tolerant of terrible injustices. Our priorities are way off. 

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The Second Sorrowful Mystery ~ The Scourging at the Pillar

Our Father...

The Flemish painter, John-Paul Rubens (1577-1640), created this image titled The Flagellation of Christ. We might more typically call it The Scourging at the Pillar. It is said of St. Kateri Tekakwitha: She prayed more with her eyes than with her lips.

Hail Mary...

This is a rough scene. Scourging was a prelude to crucifixion, but sometimes it so weakened the man he was unable to walk to the place of execution. Here the scourging of Christ seems to be more than just a cruel piece of Roman law, but rather a great unleashing of humankind's angry hatred towards God.

Hail Mary...

In the Genesis account, we were created by God and placed in a wondrous and harmonious paradise. It doesn't take long though before the story becomes violent and brother murders brother. One anonymous source says: "If God lived in a house on earth today - all his windows would be broken." 

Hail Mary...

The tough guy on the left is using a whip with a piece of metal attached to the end. Someone actually thought how to "enhance" a tool so that it would do more damage. Depravity runs deep in humankind. These kinds of things happen still. Americans have a short memory when it comes to shameful things. Have we already forgotten Abu Graib?

Hail Mary...

This awful scene happens at night. One major newspaper reported at the start of this month that many hundreds of migrant young people have been shuttled at night to a tent city in the Texas desert. At night.

Hail Mary...

A young man in the background is mocking Jesus with a pretend salute. Bullies mock, even in school playgrounds. But it's especially sad when the mockery is performed by persons of authority, influence and leadership. These people are supposed to bring out the best in us. But this is probably an ignorant boy in Ruben's painting. He lives at the bottom of the pile, so he uses mockery to enhance his stature. 

Hail Mary...

At the bottom right in the painting we see a dog entering the room. Dogs are often included in paintings depicting Gospel events. A dog is symbolic of faithfulness and loyalty. Oh Jesus, though everyone else might turn against you, my soul will stay true. 

Hail Mary...

Our country feasts on violence. People watch reality television hoping to see a fight in a restaurant - fists and curses flying. Before watching a movie we're exposed to half a dozen previews of fireball explosions, crashes, bleed outs and murders. We use images of burning cities as movie entertainment. And while we don't have a corner on violence, around the world we are thought of as a violent nation. We can defend that, or pray for our conversion.

Hail Mary...

This Gospel scene is found only in Western art; it doesn't appear much in Byzantine or Eastern iconography. We might think the gruesome depictions of Jesus' torture are unnecessary. Or contemplating his prison grief, our souls might be awakened and made sensitive to creation's sorrow and pain. 

Hail Mary...

An arm reaches into the scene holding a bunch of dried sticks - another weapon to be used against Jesus. The bully on the right steadies himself by stepping on Jesus and grins as he holds his own weapon high above his head, the better to increase momentum. But there can be weapons in our hearts and in our minds. Do I want to be a non-violent person?

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

The First Sorrowful Mystery: The Taking of Christ in the Garden

Of course, the First Sorrowful Mystery is The Agony in the Garden. But there is a sub-scene taking place in that Gospel event which the Italian master, Caravaggio, has painted and which offers us opportunity for contemplation. The painting is titled: The Taking of Christ. It is the moment of Judas' betraying kiss and Jesus' arrest.

Our Father...

This scene is filled with movement, emotion-laden action, the tensions of light and dark, violence and surrender. Like much of human life. I might simply pause in silence and wait for some feeling response to rise up before praying the prayer.

Hail Mary...

There are seven figures in this painting. All are seen in profile except the face of Jesus. It makes for a crowded scene - like the political and Church scenes playing out today on newspaper pages, television and computer screens. Caravaggio has painted no background - only darkness. Does this suggest the drama is played out everywhere: betrayal, violence, power abuse?

Hail Mary...

There is a billowing blood-red cloth, umbrella like, over the head of Jesus. This portends the suffering which begins in the garden. Jesus is leaning away from Judas, almost as if he is going to fall down for the sadness of the betrayal. But his hands are prayerful, without a retaliatory weapon. His brow is furrowed, knowing the pain of being turned against and the sad horror of violence.

Hail Mary...

The eyes of Jesus are full of grief. All this clanking metal, gathered to take away the one who said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Maybe Jesus' eyes are sorrowful too because he feels the strong grasp of Judas' left hand, which could be the grasp of friendship, but also the phony kiss. So many people in the world have sorrow-filled eyes.

Hail Mary...

Some say the fellow on the far left is the apostle John. The Gospel tells us the apostles were scattered in fear that night. He seems to be running right off the edge of the canvas. This disciple is wearing a tunic, but there was also that un-named man who dropped the sheet he was wrapped in and ran off naked into the night. Like someone who has forfeited his or her baptism relationship with Jesus - for fear.

Hail Mary...

At the same time there is a man on the far right moving into the scene. Caravaggio has painted himself into the painting as a young man. It's only moon light that illumines this night time event, but this fellow is holding up a lantern. He doesn't seem to be part of the meanness. We get the feeling he is perhaps straining to see - even standing on tip-toe. I want to see the face of Jesus. I want to hold up the light of my Baptism candle, however fragile the flame. 

Hail Mary...

You'd think Caravaggio would have placed the face of Jesus right in the center. But no, the over-stated arm of the arresting soldier gets all that attention. We talk a good game, but the world is infatuated with all things military. Imagine what we could do for the world's children if we placed our energies and resources at their service. And as November approaches, all these rallies and pandering for the votes of veterans and military people. Jesus is pushed to the side. Caravaggio seems to understand. 

Hail Mary...

On the other hand, the soldier's shiny, metal arm leads us to Jesus. Caravaggio isn't showing off his talent, but maybe the metal serves as a kind of mirror. Do I dare to look closely; I will see my self. The reflection invites an Examination of Conscience. The nation needs an examination of conscience; so does the church. Remember the 1960's bumper sticker, "My country, right or wrong." That's idolatry. Idolatry is a betrayal.

Hail Mary...

There is a lot of arguing going on these days in the art world over whether or not this painting was really created by Caravaggio. Of course, all the wrangling comes down to money: "Is the picture as valuable as we thought? Will people still pay to see it if its a copy?" Let the artists knock themselves out over it. The only question I need to ask is: "Am I the real deal, an authentic image? Or am I a Christian look-alike; a wanna-be?" 

Hail Mary...

One scholar, musing on this painting, ends by calling it a "secular event." How sad is that - to miss the painting's spiritual content. I must be still now and consider the painted scene. Look at what the world has done: we have arrested the All Good One and given him a fake kiss. 

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

Intercessions ~ Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October is Respect Life Month./ We pray for those who live in the most difficult situations of violence,/ marginalization,/ poverty,/ lack of education,/ loneliness and abandonment./ For the creation of a world where every human life matters./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the President of the United States,/ to lead our nation in the creation of peace,/ the rejection of hatred,/ ethnicity and the deep divisions afflicting us./ We pray to the Lord.

With the Synod in Rome/ we pray for the young people of the world,/ but not only those of the first world,/ but of Africa,/ Asia and South America./ For unencumbered hearts,/ the realization of their happiness and growth in goodness./ We pray to the Lord.

We bring to Mass the concerns of our families and friends,/ praying for those who are weak or in poor health,/ who are struggling financially,/ emotionally or in their relationships./ We ask for strength and healing./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray again for those who have recently suffered terrible losses of home and livihood in hurricanes,/ floods,/ wars and famines./ For relief workers,/ rescuers and those who help people to recover./ We pray to the Lord.

As a new week begins,/ may we live gratefully,/ deeply aware of how precious life is/ and with love as our aim./ We pray to the Lord.