Who Are These Children Dressed in White

 "Who are these children dressed in white?  They must be the children of the Israelites." 

As I ponder the estimated ten thousand migrants and refugees rescued last week from the Mediterranean, I keep coming back to the story of the Exodus, as these many peoples risk their lives to be delivered from the bondage of war, persecution, famine and poverty, with Pharoah in hot pursuit and the water blocking their way.

Middle Easterners, South Asians and Africans, Muslims and Christians are all mixed together in the millions of refugees and  migrants whose exodus is unfolding daily before our eyes.  So taking my cue from the words of the African-American spiritual, "Wade in the Water", at least for this stage of this icon, I have depicted the refugees and migrants dressed in white.  

Let us continue to pray for them, that through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Refugees and Migrants, all of her children may find deliverance and safety, especially those in peril on the sea.

Laetare Weekend

Yesterday, with Laetare Sunday (aka the Fourth Sunday of Lent, aka the Sunday of the Man Born Blind), we reached the half-way point between the beginning of the Lenten season on Ash Wednesday, and the conclusion of Lent on Holy Thursday, when the Paschal Triduum begins.
'Laetare', from the first word of Latin text of the Entrance Antiphon for that Sunday, which means 'rejoice'.

Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and all who love her: 

Be joyful, all who were in mourning.  

I'm still missing my Dad (it was two months on Friday since his death).  But within the narrow confines of the New Jerusalem Workshop, while not exactly feeling joyful, I'm ready to rejoice a little. Why? Because this weekend I'm about half-way done with the icon of St. Anne, Mary the Mother of God and Jesus that I began on March 4th.

 Which is to say, I've finished the garments, the gilding, gold assist and the highlighting of the roundel that symbolizes the heavens (and the Virgin's womb which contained the One through whom the cosmos was made.)  Still more wretched faulting of the gold to finish.  But being back in the studio, even feeling as sad as I find myself most days, and getting things done, is such a grace and a blessing.  To God be the glory!

Now on to the faces.




 

Day of Prayer for Peace in Syria

Pope Francis has asked Christians and other men and women of faith to fervently pray on October 31st for an end to the war in Syria.

As modest aid to prayer I'm offering once again this rosary, which meditates on the Flight to Egypt by the Holy Family.  This way of praying the rosary has enabled me to meditate on how Jesus and his family were refugees; to intercede in prayer for peace and for Syrian (and Iraqi) refugees and to ask God to attune my heart in mercy to their plight. 

Below are how I’ve ordered the five meditations and prayer intentions. You may wish to pray the Holy Father’s Prayer for Peace in Syria and the conclusion of each decade or at the end of the rosary.

A Rosary for Syrian and Iraqi Refugees

1. Herod Orders the Massacre of the Innocents.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious.  He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under.  Mt.2.16a  

Prayer Intention

     -- for an end to the war in Syria and for all of the victims and perpetrators of violence in Syria and Iraq

2. In a Dream the Angel Warns Joseph to Flee with his Family.

Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.  Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Mt.2:13

Prayer Intention

    -- for all those forced to abandon their families, friends and  neighbors, homes, livelihoods and homelands.

3. The Holy Family Make the Perilous Journey to Egypt

 Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt Mt.14

 Prayer Intention

-- for all those are risking their lives crossing the conflict zones, deserts and the open ocean.

4. Jesus, Mary and Joseph Find Refuge Among the Egyptians

He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Mt.2:15   

Prayer Intention

-- for all those who have opened their countries and homes to refugees or working to comfort, assist and welcome them.

5. The Holy Family Are Able to Return to Nazareth

 When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”  He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. Mt.2:1-21  

Prayer Intention

-- for an end to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq and peace with reconciliation between all of the parties to the conflict.

This is just a way that works for me in prayer.  You may or may not find it useful for your own prayer.  But in whatever way you choose to pray, please  join the Holy Father tomorrow in praying for the refugees and for an end to the war in Syria. 

The Brilliance of Eternal Values

"By using [the perspective of importance], Byzantine painting accentuated the holiness of the persons represented.  Their individual and temporal aspects were thus clothed by the brilliance of eternal values, and the image itself receives a function other than that of a simple drawing.

The way that an icon grasps, understands, and draws its subject cannot be based just on physical vision but must be interpreted by thought.  In the same way, its optical effect undergoes a change; by enlarging the proportions, the main person seems to move out from the interior of the icon toward the spectator.  The focus is thus inversed.

Pere Egon Sendler SJ. 'The Icon: Image of the Invisible

 

For an iconpainter, the representational conventions of Byzantine painting are so familiar  that it is easy (at least for me) to lose sight of how peculiar those conventions are that depict the human form in space.   I've been sketching out the cartoon for an icon of St. Anne, with her daughter, Mary, the Mother of God and Mary's son, Jesus.  I first encountered this image of mother, daughter and son in the work of my teacher, Pere Igor (Egon) Sendler, in the photograph of a fresco he painted in the 1980's.  As in many icons, Mary is depicted both as the Mother of God (that is to say, as an adult woman with her son, Jesus), and as the youthful daughter of St. Anne, symbolized by her diminutive stature in comparison with her mother.  

Which is a reminder for me of two things.  First, that drawing is always a way of seeing and thinking about the visible and invisible realities that we seek to perceive, comprehend and depict.  Second, that when it comes to what Pere Igor speaks of as those realities that are "clothed by the brilliance of eternal values", our ordinary, natural ways of sight and perception are inadequate to fully represent the subtle and elusive mystery of a world tranfigured by divine Grace.  Paradoxically, the more painstaking the attempt to enclose such realities in the garb of naturalistic realism, their luminous brilliance simply fades from sight.