@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Iconography
The Art of Lynda Beck
I recently received a beautiful rough draft copy of a St. Michael icon from Ms. Lynda Beck, local artist/ icon writer and St. Anthony parishioner. While our email conversation was on a totally different subject (Pilgrimage USA- Kansas Prairie Tour of Sacred Worship Spaces....I will feature this in a near future post) it was this copy of her icon that really caught my attention.
The icon she sent me (to chase away spam in my email) was a very masculine St. Michael the Archangel defeating the Evil One.
Venite Missa Est! will explore iconography in future posts and, when Ms. Beck has a little more time to participate, we will do a full story on her art, studio and aspirations both personal and for the local art scene. Venite will also, at Ms. Beck's suggestion, feature the sacred art of Jennifer Walterscheid (she did the watercolor renderings of the Church windows) and also Raphael Robles as well as others.
We look forward to exploring this subject and the artist more in depth but for now I present a preview of sorts of the art of Lynda Beck.
But the following day he was elected. Journalists, most famously Margaret Hebblethwaite on BBC television, bewailed that "Rottweiler Ratzinger" now held the Keys of St Peter. Even those of us who had read him for decades and who had known him as cardinal in brief but profoundly convincing encounters could barely believe that the cardinal who had so resolutely held and reaffirmed the Church's teaching on faith and morals - with the clear support of Pope John Paul II - and who had pioneered critical debate about the state of the Church following the Second Vatican Council, in fact emerged on the balcony of St Peter's as the Successor of St Peter.
But the cardinals knew Ratzinger personally, better than anyone, which is why, under the influence of God the Holy Spirit, they elected him. The media and most Catholics only knew his public reputation, which is why we had such hysteria. continue to article.....
The Catholic Sign of the Cross is absolutely ancient, rooted not only in the Old Testament but the New (Apocalypse speaks of those who have the sign of God in their foreheads -- and those who have the sign of the Beast in their foreheads). When Catholics undergo the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Bishop (sometimes a priest) seals the sign on our foreheads with holy chrism. St. John of Damascus wrote
This was given to us as a sign on our forehead, just as the circumcision was given to Israel: for by it we believers are separated and distinguished from unbelievers.
To "cross oneself," "sign oneself," "bless oneself," or "make the sign of the cross" all mean the same thing
Crossing one's self recalls this seal, and the invocation that is said while making this holy sign calls on our God -- the Father, His Son, and the Holy Ghost -- and is a sign of our of belief; it is both a "mini-creed" that asserts our belief in the Triune God, and a prayer that invokes Him. The use of holy water when making this sign, such as we do when we enter a church, also recalls our Baptism and should bring to mind that we are born again of water and Spirit, thanks be to God.
Because of what the Sign indicates -- the very Cross of our salvation -- Satan hates it, and our using it makes demons flee. Make the Sign in times of temptation and confusion for great spiritual benefit!
The Sign of the Cross is made thus: First choose your style:
* Option A. With your right hand, touch the thumb and ring finger together, and hold your index finger and middle finger together to signify the two natures of Christ. This is the most typical Western Catholic practice.
* Option B. Hold your thumb and index finger of your right hand together to signify the two natures of Christ
* Option C. Hold your thumb, index finger, middle finger of your right hand together (signifying the Trinity) while tucking the ring finger and pinky finger (signifying the two natures of Christ) toward your palm. This is the typically Eastern Catholic practice.
* Option D: Hold your right hand open with all 5 fingers -- representing the 5 Wounds of Christ -- together and very slightly curved, and thumb slightly tucked into palm
Then:
* touch the forehead as you say (or pray mentally) "In nomine Patris" ("In the name of the Father")
* touch the breastbone or top of the belly as you say "et Filii" ("and of the Son")
*
touch the left shoulder, then right shoulder, as you say "et Spiritus Sancti" ("and of the Holy Ghost"). Note that some people end the Sign by crossing the thumb over the index finger to make a cross, and then kissing the thumb as a way of "kissing the Cross."
An optional prayer to pray after signing yourself in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is this one, said to be favored by St. Benedict:
By the Sign of the Cross, deliver me from my enemies, O Lord.
A partial indulgence is gained, under the usual conditions, when piously making the Sign of the Cross
Catholics should begin and end their prayers with the Sign of the Cross and should cross themselves when passing a church to honor Jesus in the Tabernacle, upon entering a church, and after receving Communion. The sign is made, too, in times of trouble or fear (e.g., when receiving bad news, in times of temptation, when hearing an ambulance or fire truck go by), when passing a cemetery or otherwise recalling the dead, when seeing a Crucifix -- any time one wishes to honor and invoke God, or ward away evil, fear, and temptation.
Just for information's sake, the "Distaff Gospels," a collection of old wives tales collected ca. 1470, relate the following in its fifteenth chapter.
If in the morning, when getting up, a person crosses themselves and washes their hands before leaving the house, the devil will not have the power of harming him or her. Otherwise, whatever the work is done on that day will not be profitable.
...About that, Geffrine Tost Preste said that the devil sits on the table of whoever does not say grace before eating, then eats and drinks there.
There are other signs of the Cross that Catholics make, too. One is made by tracing a small Cross with the thumb of the right hand on people and things. This sign is especially used by parents when blessing children by tracing the sign on the children's foreheads..1 Sometimes the sign is traced by the thumb on a book of Sacred Scripture and then kissed before reading. The sign is also carved onto loaves of bread before cutting, etc.
Another sign is the large sign made in the air by bishops and priests when blessing persons or material objects.
Yet another is the series of three small Crosses traced by the thumb of the right hand -- one small Cross on the forehead, one small Cross on the lips, and one small Cross on the breast -- just before the Gospel reading at Mass. The sign on the forehead is to show that we believe the Gospel, the sign on the lips is to show that we respect the Gospel and desire to spread the Good News, and the sign on our breast is to show that we love the Gospel and want it kept in our hearts. 2
Make the Sign of the Cross and make it often! Teach it to your children -- even the tiniest of children. If they're infants, take their hands and make the movements for them! Making the Sign should feel as natural as breathing...
Footnotes:
1 The use of "bless" here refers to a parental blessing -- i.e., a prayer for God's grace for a child. Priests alone have the power to bless in the name of the Church and with the power of the Church, to bless liturgically, to bless objects rendering them sacramentals, etc.
2 When passing by or upon entering a church, many Mexicans make this form of the sign (with the thumb laid over the index finger to form a cross) -- on the forehead, lips, and mouth -- while praying the words, "Por la senal de la Santa Cruz, de nuestros enemigos libranos Señor Dios Nuestro" -- "By the sign of the Holy Cross deliver us, Lord, from our enemies." This is followed by the regular sign of the Cross outlined above (whose words in Spanish are, "En el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espiritu Santo, amen") and the kissing of the Cross made by the thumb laid over the index finger. They refer to the first sign as "signing oneself" ("signarse") and the second action as "blessing oneself" ("santiguarse").
Youtube video
No comments:
Post a Comment