jim henson

Look at this Heart which has loved men so much, and yet men do not want to love Me in return. Through you My divine Heart wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth.
~Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

The Sacred Heart is one of the most necessary and important devotions in the Western Church today.  Jesus came to Saint Margaret Mary to give a crucial message to a world moving in the wrong direction.

Against Jansenism 

At the time of St. Margaret Mary's visions, Jansenism was gaining ground.  It taught that mankind had been radically corrupted by original sin and that Christ did not die for all, but only for those predestined to be saved.  Holy Communion was seen as a reward for the good rather than a remedy for the spiritually sick and could only be received, according to the Jansenists, after a long and severe preparation.  Jansenism was condemned by the Church in 1653. The message of Christ's deep love for all in His Sacred Heart was violently opposed in areas which were heavily Jansenist.

Love and Mercy

Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque on June 13, 1675 and told her, "See this heart, which has loved men so much, to the point of exhausting and consuming itself to show them its love."  The Heart of Christ is shown aflame with love for each member of mankind.

Often seen today as a precursor of the Divine Mercy apparition, mercy is the central message of the Sacred Heart devotion.  It is more important than ever today to remember, preach and show others that Jesus came to the earth to show His love and mercy to mankind.

A Failed Witness

We are SO quick today, to feast on malicious gossip, often regarding people we have never met in person.  Rumors and scandals become an all-consuming fire in our souls and fodder for the latest in social media.  Even in our churches, we often let this tempting addiction from the devil take hold.  How many times recently has it not even occurred to us to be gentle, merciful and caring in our thoughts, actions and verbalizations, (both real and "virtual")?

Now, more than ever, we are a witness to others.  Our thoughts and opinions are everywhere and will even continue on  in cyber space and survive our mortal bodies!  More and more people today are turning away from mainstream Christian faiths because they do not see Christianity being lived out by its adherents.  Those who remain are often hounded and judged out of the Church by its well-meaning members.  Do not let this be you!

Be Love!

Jesus reserved his greatest condemnation for the spiritual leaders who should have known better, but were heaping burdens on people's backs that they themselves were unwilling to carry. (Matthew 23:4)  He told Martha that she worried about so many things when only one was necessary--sitting at His feet and feeding on His Words. (Luke 10:41)

He used the most hated group of his day, the Samaritans, (Jewish schismatics)  to illustrate what true love is--love for strangers, love for those otherwise thought to be "unclean" and not worth going out of one's way to help.  (Luke 10: 25-37)  He openly spoke to a woman who had been married 5 times, was living with a man, and was a Samaritan. She would not have been given the time of day by most religious people, but Jesus revealed to her that He was the Messiah.

Christ was truly a radical in how He showed His Love.

 He cared not one bit what was whispered about him--that he seemed to enjoy the company of others without regard for either their financial or spiritual poverty (the woman who washed His feet with her tears) or their standing in the community--either low or high .  (Zacheus, Joseph of Arimathea)  He preached that sacrificial love for humanity should come before all else--even religious rules. "The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27)

Sacred Heart of Jesus,

We beg you to pour out your Love onto us today and help us to be on fire with love for all your children, those who are easy for us to love and those who are not.  With your help, we can rein in our baser nature and live as true children of your Father.

Amen. 

ROSES

You love the roses - so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

I found an interesting article about finding a prayer style that suits your personality type. The author uses the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator and matches it up with four Catholic Prayer traditions.

NT (Intuitive-Thinking) types are paired with the prayer tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. In this tradition, you study a virtue, fault or theological truth from all angles in order to understand it. A scripture verse is meditated on in the morning and "carried around" through the day to effect a change in behavior.

NF (Intuitive-Feeling) types are paired with Augustinian prayer. Here you transpose the words of Scripture into daily life and current situation.

SJ (Sensing-Judging) types are asked to try the prayer style of St. Ignatius. The one who prays is put into the scriptural situation and so becomes a participant in salvation history. The liturgies of Holy Week are a good example of this type of prayer.

SP (Sensing-Perceiving) types are steered towards Franciscan prayer. This type of prayer is open to the working of the Holy Spirit. These people tend to pray throughout the day using something like the Jesus Prayer.

Hat tip to Lisa Graas via Twitter.

For today's Art and Beauty Tuesday we will explore something from Street Art Utopia.

I love the concept of beautifying one's environment and stepping out of the preconceived notions of what art and beauty are.

Apparently, this Lego art is happening all over the world.  Go to this website and click on a city to discover examples of their Lego street art!

Today is PTSD awareness day.  Millions of people in the United States develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder every year.  Anyone who is a witness to trauma can develop PTSD.

Historically, PTSD was known by various names.  Called "Soldier's heart" in the American Civil War, it was known as "Shell Shock" in World War I and "Combat Fatigue" in World War II.

Symptoms include depression, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, flashbacks and nightmares, feeling detached, experiencing restricted emotional affect and a sense of a foreshortened future.  The person also may suffer from difficulty sleeping, be hypervigilant, angry and have an exaggerated startle response.

Children with PTSD may lose a recently acquired developmental skill such as potty training.

Any traumatic event may trigger PTSD in anyone, even if others similarly exposed do not go on to develop it.

The most effective treatment for PTSD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) sometimes coupled with SSRI medication.

For more information on PTSD visit http://www.ptsd.va.gov.

We are coming to the home stretch with Vivaldi's Gloria. Today we listen to the entire choir sing Quonium Tu Solus Sanctus.

Sunday Snippets is brought to you each week by RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing.

Sorry we missed last week's Sunday Snippets. We were attending our son's wedding out of town.

We are finally heading to the end of Vivaldi's Gloria!  Next week is our final week!

Last week's Art and Beauty Tuesday featured John Singer Sargent's Spirto Santo Saatera, a beautiful water color. This week we featured John Everett Millais' Wedding Cards.  Last week's poetry was Zeynep Hatun's I am a Fountain, a beautiful poem reaching out to God.  This week was a short poem by Amy Lowell, To a Husband.

I also featured Prayer for Control of the Tongue and a beautiful YouTube video for Corpus Christi.

This weekend is the Feast of Corpus Christi--the Body of Christ.

These Capuchin Franciscans bring the Blessed Sacrament into the middle of the Preston, England marketplace and preach in a beautifully simple way on Jesus through the Bible.

I heard on the radio today that country musician Glen Campbell has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

For those of us who may remember him from the 1960's and '70's, it is hard to believe that Campbell is now 75 years old.  He was diagnosed 6 months ago and is undertaking his farewell tour this summer.  His wife, Kim wanted people to know of his diagnosis lest they think he had lost his long time addiction battle with alcohol.

His final album, Ghost on the Canvas, is due out on August 30th.

I wanted to post this Prayer for Control of the Tongue I've seen around the internet.  It is a very good one to  to remember and pray.

It is good to remember this not only as control of the physical tongue, but control of the virtual tongue (i.e., the keyboard) as well.

To a Husband

Brighter than fireflies upon the Uji River
Are your words in the dark, Beloved.

This 19th century oil on canvas is called Wedding Cards.  Having just come from my own son's wedding over the weekend, I was touched by the contemplative expression on the bride's face, wondering, perhaps, what married life will be like, or perhaps, contemplating leaving the only home she has ever known.

She seems to gaze into the future and abide in the past all at once.

Her face is beautifully rendered and individual, making us feel as though we know her personally.  We in the 21st century are not put off by her 19th century dress.  Its darkness makes it fade a bit into the background and  doesn't overwhelm her personality.

The artist uses touches of blue with tiny bits of green and purple to break up the dark color of the sleeves, and even uses some blue on her hands.

All in all, I think this is a very forward-looking work of art, mixing a painterly style with some modern sketchiness in an overall realistic rendering of this beautiful young woman.

ETA:  Please see the first comment by Diddleymaz for clarification on this painting.  The card is a Victorian calling card sent through the mail to invite the receiver to call on the sender.  The wedding, apparently, is that of the receiver of the card.

This sheds new light on the painting and makes much more sense than my original musings.  As Diddleymaz suggests, perhaps she is wistfully thinking of the groom as being out of her reach forever.

Thanks so much, Diddleymaz for the clarification!

This is another powerful alto solo in the Vivaldi Gloria: Qui sedes ad dexteram patris.

I really like this painting by John Singer Sargent.  Spirito Santo, Saattera is a painting that says so much with so few brush strokes.  It is not photorealistic, but a beautiful water color that doesn't even use a large variety of colors--mainly various warm neutrals with a little blue and purple.

Nevertheless, Sargent really makes us see the water, as much as if he had taken months to paint it in oils.  Painting water with the quick technique necessary with water colors is a wonderful way to portray the transient nature of water and of life itself.

For today's music monday, we continue with Vivaldi's Gloria. Today we hear Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi. Short and sweet, we are back with the whole choir.

Qui tollis peccata mundi means, who takes away the sins of the world.

Sunday Snippets is brought to you each week by RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing.

This week we continued our listen to Vivaldi's Gloria--this time to Domine Deus--a beautiful alto solo.  We also continued our Novena to the Holy Spirit.

For Art and Beauty Tuesday, we looked at Morkenkaffen (Morning Coffee) by Harald Slott Moller.

Today I posted Be Not Afraid--Listen to God's Voice, with a quote from Pope John Paul II and a song from Celtic Woman as well as a picture of the cacti on my hill.

I wanted to share pictures of our blooming cacti (and intermittent flowering weeds) on our hill.  These hearty cacti come back no matter how cold or wet it happens to get.  Weeding between the dangerously long thorns is a challenge but I love the mixture of the yellow cactus flowers with the purple weeds.

"Life completely given over to love, bears the fragrance of Christ; it invites all of us not to be afraid." ~Pope John Paul II 

This charming painting is Morkenkaffen (which I think means morning coffee) by Harald Slott Moller.  It shows a beautiful woman pouring herself coffee near a sunny curtained window.

The pure white of her dress is continued in the white of the curtains, which frame both the window and the silver coffee urn.  The light and height are mimicked in the cream-colored clock that stands next to the chair that sits by the window.

The rest of the room is a typically dark interior of a pre-electric home.  The light from the window tells us that this woman is getting her energy, not only from the coffee, but from the outside world and from nature.

The clock reminds us that what seems antique to us actually existed inside time and was this young woman's daily life.

This section of Vivaldi's Gloria features a hauntingly beautiful alto solo: Domine Deus.

Sunday Snippets is brought to you each week by RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing.

This week we continued our Vivaldi Gloria.  Our art and poetry reflected a Memorial Day theme with A Time for Honoring by Sgt. Pete Damon and a haiku by Asei.

This week I began the Novena to the Holy Spirit, which is a series of YouTube Videos with the novena prayers.

I also talked about the bird revolution that seems to be taking place outside my front door.

Have a beautiful week!

I think we're having some sort of bird political uprising here. We've got a nest that is re-used every year by some sort of purple finch. Lately we've been hearing and witnessing lots of noise by the cat birds (and, dh says, blue birds as well) in the bushes.

Yesterday, I witnessed lots of barn swallows flying around the finch nest. Something is going on out there.

Some sort of revolution is in the air.

In today's Novena, we pray for holy fear.

 This novena to the Holy Spirit, to be said between Ascension and Pentecost, has been generously uploaded to YouTube.  I will post one each day.   The first novena was said by Mary and the Apostles during the 9 days between the Ascension and Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on them.

This haiku by Asei made me think of walking through a grave yard on a hot summer's day at the end of the dry season. The withered grass is beautifully juxtaposed (in my mind) with the deceased under the ground. Even their names are disappearing from the worn out grave stones.

I found it on a website of Japanese Haiku Death Poetry, written by Zen monks on the verge of death and thought it appropriate to post for the recent Memorial Day Holiday.

It reminds me of the end of American Poet Emily Dickinson's poem, I died for beauty.

and so as kinsmen met a night
and talked between the rooms
until the moss had reached our lips
and covered up
our names

For me, this also evokes images of death and the grave. Both are eerily similar in their imagery.