Saint Martha and the Jesuits

Pedro de Ribadeneyra 1526-1611

Cornelis Galle  1576-1650

Théodore Galle  1571-1633

Jan Collaert 1566-1628

Plate 12 is an image of Rome showing Ignatian places of devotion in Rome and 

Plate 15 is composite image of the miracles of Saint Ignatius and includes the conversion of women

From Vita beati patris Ignatii Loyolae religionis Societatis Iesu fundatoris ad viuum expressa ex ea quam

1610

Published Antwerp

Engravings 30 x 40 cm.

Boston College, Boston, USA

Monday is the Feast of St Martha of Bethany (sister of Lazarus)

Wednesday is the Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits

St Ignatius and the Jesuits are often celebrated for their work in the Counter-Reformation, the Spiritual Exercises and the establishment of schools and universities, and their missionary activity

The Vita beati patris Ignatii Loyolae religionis Societatis Iesu fundatoris ad viuum expressa ex ea quam was published by the Jesuit Order to celebrate the beatification of St Ignatius in 1609

One aspect of the apostolate of St Ignatius is often overlooked. It is not widely known. 

Indeed after his death it was marginalised and in the pious biographies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it is barely (if at all) mentioned

In 1543 St Ignatius founded a house for the reformation of Rome`s prostitutes. It was called Casa Santa Marta

There is a bit of historical irony that the first Jesuit Pope, Francis, has elected to make his home in Rome in a building also called Casa Santa Marta (Domus Santa Marta)

Both buildings were dedicated to Saint Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus.

Martha was of course the mistress of the house where the Lord came and was the house of those who sought out the Lord. It was a house of service dedicated to the Lord 

In one of his last messages as Pope for Lent 2013, Pope Benedict said:

"In sacred Scripture, we see how the zeal of the Apostles to proclaim the Gospel and awaken people’s faith is closely related to their charitable concern to be of service to the poor (cf. Acts 6:1-4). In the Church, contemplation and action, symbolized in some way by the Gospel figures of Mary and Martha, have to coexist and complement each other (cf. Lk 10:38-42)."

By the fifteenth century prostitution was accepted as a service industry in Italy and most of Europe. 

It was regarded as a sin but not so much for the male client. Many theologians regarded the use of prostitutes as a lesser evil

As the Catholic Reform progressed, the Oratorians had set up a convent for the reform of prostitutes. The accent was on repentance. That was in 1520

But St Ignatius` approach was different.  It was to seek out prostitutes and offer them an opportunity or have in which they could renounce their former life, reform and be reintegrated into society The aim was not to make them become members of a religious order

It was the "half way house" and the model spread throughout the major cities of Italy

Ignatius spent about ten years in this activity

Ignatius himself took an active role in  developing Casa Santa Marta, In addition to preaching to prostitutes, Ignatius raised funds to support the house and to supply dowries for women who wished to marry.

He recognized that women became prostitutes because of economic and social conditions. 

They were often fleeing abusive marriages or were without dowries required for marriage or the religious life. 

Ignatius offered the women he served a wider range of choices than other charities permitted

These women could marry, embrace religious life as conversae, or enter domestic service. 

Ignatius also recognized the intergenerational character of prostitution and provided education and dowries for the daughters of prostitutes between the ages of ten and twelve to provide them with better options than their mothers had. 

Ignatius was insistent that the prostitutes who came to Casa Santa Marta freely choose from the available options they had open to them

The website of the Curia of the Company of Jesus describes it thus:

"Ignatius founded a residence for penitent prostitutes. 

Prostitution was a significant service industry in Rome and was more or less accepted in the fifteenth century, but the advent of syphilis and the changing moral tenor led to sixteenth-century reform movements. 

In 1520 the Oratorio del Divino Amore had established a convent for former prostitutes, based on the earlier monastic model emphasizing a strict life of penance.

Santa Marta aimed at rehabilitation of former prostitutes and their reintegration into ordinary social life. In a sense, it was similar to what we now call "half-way houses." 

Among the 170 founding members of the confraternity that administered the work were 15 cardinals, seven bishops, and several ambassadors to the papal court. Leaving financial and material matters to the lay people, Ignatius provided spiritual direction. 

Besides a concern for the moral well-being of the women, Ignatius also wanted to reform the Papal Court. 

When the mistress of the papal postmaster entered Santa Marta, the enraged postmaster began accusing the Jesuits of having their own concubines there. The accusation was serious enough that Ignatius demanded an official investigation; the result was that the Jesuits were cleared of all charges of misconduct. ... 

Father Pedro Ribadeneira described the scene of Ignatius leading to the Residence of Saint Martha some of the women he had rescued: 

"When some people told him that women like that, veterans confirmed in vice, easily go back to their former ways..., and so one ought not spend much effort to convert them, Father Ignatius responded: 'By no means. If all my efforts and concern could persuade only one of them not to sin for one night out of love for Jesus Christ, I would omit no effort whereby just for that time at least she would not offend God even though I knew that afterwards she would return again to the former ways.'"

Perhaps it is this type of Ignatian spirituality which lies behind Pope Francis and which is behind among other things his call to South American nations not to legalise drugs

See also:

Lance Lazar  The first Jesuit confraternities and marginalized groups in sixteenth-century Rome  

Ignace de Loyola et les personnes prostituées – La Casa Santa Marta

Marie Emmanuel Crahay  Saint Ignace et la maison Sainte Marthe

Charles Chauvin « La maison Sainte Marthe, Ignace et les prostituées de Rome » Christus n°149, p.117  - 126.

The Apostle James: The Suffering Servant

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617 -  1682

El Apóstol Santiago  /  The Apostle Saint James

1655

Oil on canvas

134 cm x 107 cm

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

This is only one of many depictions in the Prado of the Apostle Saint James, the Patron Saint of Spain

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was the leading exponent of the seventeenth-century Sevillan school, which was known for its seamless blend of realism and sentimental beauty in painting.

He presents Saint James as a pilgrim like those who flocked to the shrine of his relics in Santiago de Compostella

One of the earliest called by Jesus, he was one of the Boanerges ("sons of thunder") and brother of the apostle John. He was one of the three apostles who were witnesses of The Transfiguration

James suffered martyrdom in AD 44 at the hands of Herod Agrippa, being the first apostle to suffer martyrdom

Murillo presents an image of a strong and upright man but no longer in the flush of youth. But it is his face and in particular his eyes which is the central feature of the painting.

His eyes show someone not filled with temper and vehemence but of anxiety and, perhaps, of fatigue and worn down slightly by cares and responsibilities. But something impels him on

It is a human portrait not a depiction of a sculptural icon

But it is a portrait of someone who is no longer the man who when the Samaritans refused to receive Christ, asked: 

"Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?" 

The worldly ambition has gone. So has the ideological zeal.

The prophecy of Jesus about James is fulfilled. He was to drink of the cup that Christ  was to drink of in the Passion and Crucifixion. 

In Matthew 20 his mother pushed him and his brother forward to Jesus and got them to ask to sit at either side of Jesus in his kingdom. He and his family thought that the kingdom which Jesus spoke about was of this earth and time. They thought it was about power. They (like the rest of the Apostles) did not understand.

"The Request of James and John. 

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.

21 He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”

22 Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”

23 He replied, “My cup you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left [, this] is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers.

25 But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt.

26 But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;

27 whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.

28 Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom  for many.”

For Christ,  authority is rendered as service to others  rather than for personal aggrandisement

James`s "reward" is to be a share in Jesus’ sufferings, the endurance of tribulation and suffering for the Gospel

Rather than despising the Samaritans and wishing to destroy them, after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, the Apostle James  became  the Good Samaritan, a sharer in the sufferings of others (See Salvifici Doloris)

What Murillo is depicting is the Song of the Suffering Servant from  the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 53)

Counter Culture

Antonio Busiello 

The Cullatore 2013

Winner of the Gold Award of The Royal Photographic Society 2013

Christianity is, if anything, counter-cultural

In a world where bodily perfection is the ideal, the above photograph illustrates counter-culture, towards the real and the permanent and away from fantasy and the transitory

The "cullatori" are men who have tremendous calluses on their shoulders from bearing the weight of huge wooden structures year after year at the Festival of the Lillies in Nola, a small town in Southern Italy. 

Since 410 AD the team of "cullatori" carry eight 82 foot traditional derrick-shaped structure weighing over 2,000 pounds through the narrow streets of the town for one day and one night. 

Busiello said that he  was impressed by how proudly they wear their huge calluses as symbols of their sacrifice and devotion to Saint Paulinus, who gave up his freedom and all his possession to save the citizens of Nola during the Visigoth invasion. 

Other images by Busiello of other cullatori are available here on his website

Paulinus of Nola (also known as Paolino di Nola;  and Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus) (ca. 354  – 22 June 431) was a friend and contemporary of St Augustine. He died one year after St Augustine. They corresponded.

He also was in contact with Saint Ambrose and St Jerome and many others

He is one of the Fathers of the Church and was the subject of one of Pope Benedict`s catecheses on the lives of the Fathers (2007)

Born in Bordeaux he experienced a total conversion. He gave up all his substantial material goods

The seed of his conversion was according to Pope Benedict "the simple and intense faith with which the people honoured the tomb of a saint, Felix the Martyr, at the Shrine of present-day Cimitile." 

The tomb is still there. 

He became a monk, then priest then Bishop

He did not write "theological treatises, but poems and ample correspondence ... rich in a lived theology, woven from God's Word, constantly examined as a light for life."

He called the poor "his masters" but for him poverty was the final objective but only the beginning of a pilgrimage towards unity with Christ:

"The relinquishment or sale of temporal goods possessed in this world is not the completion but only the beginning of the race in the stadium; it is not, so to speak, the goal, but only the starting point. In fact, the athlete does not win because he strips himself, for he undresses precisely in order to begin the contest, whereas he only deserves to be crowned as victorious when he has fought properly" ( Ep. XXIV, 7 to Sulpicius Severus). 

His cult is not limited to Nola and Southern Italy. It extends to the United States

His cult also was strong in France especially in the 16th and 17th centuries

Montaigne said this of him in his essay On Solitude:

"When the city of Nola was ruined by the barbarians, Paulinus, who was bishop of that place, having there lost all he had, himself a prisoner, prayed after this manner: 

“O Lord, defend me from being sensible of this loss; for Thou knowest they have yet touched nothing of that which is mine.” 

The riches that made him rich and the goods that made him good, were still kept entire."

One of the stories about the saint is his heroic gesture of offering himself as a prisoner in the place of a widow's son. The historical truth of this episode is disputed

It is retold by St Gregory the Great and in The Golden Legend

It is shown in the image below in the Belgian manuscript of The Golden Legend

Workshops of Willem Vrelant and of Jean le Tavernier and others

Saint Paulin de Nole se livrant pour libérer le fils d'une veuve 

From Jacobus de Varagine  The Golden Legend

c. 1470

F. 177 Mâcon - BM - ms. 0003 

There may be an element of truth in the story. 

Paulinus was married. He had a son, Celsus, who died while still young. There were no other children. 

Several of his poems are about parents who have lost their only child. They are authentic words of comfort as only who who has suffered such a loss could understand. 

Perhaps his offering of his life for the only son of a widow is credible standing such a background

Dürer: Head of the Dead Christ

Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528)

Head of the Dead Christ

1503

Charcoal on paper

310 millimetres x  221 millimetres 

The British Museum, London

One of the Highlights of The British Museum is the drawing by Dürer of the head of the crucified Christ

The inscription is by Dürer: 

“Die 2 angsicht hab ich uch erlgemacht in meiner Kranckeit“ ('I produced these two countenances when I was ill').

The second face is also in the Museum

This is of course only one of a number of portraits by Dürer of the crucified Christ. However, this must be one of his most powerful depictions

We can only speculate from what suffering Dürer was inspired to produce a work of great Christian witness

At the time of this drawing Dürer was in Nuremberg

His influence in Western European art during the Renaissance was profound

In the new Encyclical by Pope Francis Lumen Fidei, there is one paragraph when he considers the importance of  contemplation on the death of Christ in the life of the faithful

The Crucifixion is the manifestation of Christ`s perfect love for all of mankind when Christ embraced Death to bring salvation

"16. The clearest proof of the reliability of Christ’s love is to be found in his dying for our sake. If laying down one’s life for one’s friends is the greatest proof of love (cf. Jn 15:13), Jesus offered his own life for all, even for his enemies, to transform their hearts.  

This explains why the evangelists could see the hour of Christ’s crucifixion as the culmination of the gaze of faith; in that hour the depth and breadth of God’s love shone forth.  

It was then that Saint John offered his solemn testimony, as together with the Mother of Jesus he gazed upon the pierced one (cf. Jn 19:37): 

"He who saw this has borne witness, so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth" (Jn 19:35). 

In Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, Prince Myskin sees a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger depicting Christ dead in the tomb and says: "Looking at that painting might cause one to lose his faith".  

The painting is a gruesome portrayal of the destructive effects of death on Christ’s body. 

Yet it is precisely in contemplating Jesus’ death that faith grows stronger and receives a dazzling light; then it is revealed as faith in Christ’s steadfast love for us, a love capable of embracing death to bring us salvation.  

This love, which did not recoil before death in order to show its depth, is something I can believe in; Christ’s total self-gift overcomes every suspicion and enables me to entrust myself to him completely."

Si non credideritis, non intellegetis

Girolamo Tessari (called Del Santo)

Achaz (Ahaz), King of Judah from The Kings and Progenitors of Christ Fresco cycle

1526

Fresco

80.0 x 43.0 cm

On the columns of the entrance to the Capella of Santa Maria Madonna Immacolata, Chiesa di San Francesco, Padova

King Ahaz was not what anyone would call a good King

He was king of Judah, and the son and successor of Jotham

He was 20 when he ascended the throne and reigned for 16 years, dying about 716 BC

His reign is described in 2 Kings 16;  Isaiah 7-9; and 2 Chronicles 28

He is said to have given himself up to a life of wickedness, introducing many pagan and idolatrous customs (Isaiah 8:19; 38:8; 2 Kings 23:12). 

Perhaps his wickedest deed was sacrificing his own son, likely to have been Rimmon. 

He also added an idolatrous altar into the Temple. 

He sold his country down the river to the Assyrians

He was so wicked that when he died "they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel."

They attempted to erase him from history, from the collective memory

Hence a depiction of Azah in art is extremely rare  Even in the Sistine Chapel, his depiction is hidden in a lunette shown as  child beside his father Jotham

He ignored the remonstrances and warnings of the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah

It is only because the genealogy in Matthew mentions him as an ancestor of Christ that he occupies a very small place in art in churches - a very minor footnote whose only partial redemption is through a remote, very remote connection to Christ

But it is his story which forms a large section of the new Encyclical by Pope Francis Lumen Fidei

As Pope Francis has made clear publicly and in the text of the Encyclical itself it is based on a first draft by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

The prophet Isaiah is preaching to Ahaz at the command of God. At Isaiah 7:9, the prophet says: 

"Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm!"

In a Ratzingerian passage on the relationship between Faith and Truth,  Pope Francis and Pope Benedict write:

"Faith and truth 

23. Unless you believe, you will not understand (Si non credideritis, non intellegetis)

(cf. Is 7:9).  

The Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint translation produced in Alexandria, gives the above rendering of the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz.  

In this way, the issue of the knowledge of truth became central to faith.  

The Hebrew text, though, reads differently; the prophet says to the king: 

"If you will not believe, you shall not be established". 

Here there is a play on words, based on two forms of the verb ’amān: "you will believe" (ta’amînû) and "you shall be established" (tē’āmēnû).  

Terrified by the might of his enemies, the king seeks the security that an alliance with the great Assyrian empire can offer.  

The prophet tells him instead to trust completely in the solid and steadfast rock which is the God of Israel.  

Because God is trustworthy, it is reasonable to have faith in him, to stand fast on his word.  

He is the same God that Isaiah will later call, twice in one verse, the God who is Amen, "the God of truth" (cf. Is 65:16), the enduring foundation of covenant fidelity.  

It might seem that the Greek version of the Bible, by translating "be established" as "understand", profoundly altered the meaning of the text by moving away from the biblical notion of trust in God towards a Greek notion of intellectual understanding.  

Yet this translation, while certainly reflecting a dialogue with Hellenistic culture, is not alien to the underlying spirit of the Hebrew text.  

The firm foundation that Isaiah promises to the king is indeed grounded in an understanding of God’s activity and the unity which he gives to human life and to the history of his people.  

The prophet challenges the king, and us, to understand the Lord’s ways, seeing in God’s faithfulness the wise plan which governs the ages.  

Saint Augustine took up this synthesis of the ideas of "understanding" and "being established" in his Confessions when he spoke of the truth on which one may rely in order to stand fast: 

"Then I shall be cast and set firm in the mould of your truth".

From the context we know that Augustine was concerned to show that this trustworthy truth of God is, as the Bible makes clear, his own faithful presence throughout history, his ability to hold together times and ages, and to gather into one the scattered strands of our lives. 

24. Read in this light, the prophetic text leads to one conclusion: we need knowledge, we need truth, because without these we cannot stand firm, we cannot move forward.  

Faith without truth does not save, it does not provide a sure footing. 

It remains a beautiful story, the projection of our deep yearning for happiness, something capable of satisfying us to the extent that we are willing to deceive ourselves.  

Either that, or it is reduced to a lofty sentiment which brings consolation and cheer, yet remains prey to the vagaries of our spirit and the changing seasons, incapable of sustaining a steady journey through life.  

If such were faith, King Ahaz would be right not to stake his life and the security of his kingdom on a feeling.  

But precisely because of its intrinsic link to truth, faith is instead able to offer a new light, superior to the king’s calculations, for it sees further into the distance and takes into account the hand of God, who remains faithful to his covenant and his promises. 

25. Today more than ever, we need to be reminded of this bond between faith and truth, given the crisis of truth in our age.  

In contemporary culture, we often tend to consider the only real truth to be that of technology: truth is what we succeed in building and measuring by our scientific know-how, truth is what works and what makes life easier and more comfortable.  

Nowadays this appears as the only truth that is certain, the only truth that can be shared, the only truth that can serve as a basis for discussion or for common undertakings.  

Yet at the other end of the scale we are willing to allow for subjective truths of the individual, which consist in fidelity to his or her deepest convictions, yet these are truths valid only for that individual and not capable of being proposed to others in an effort to serve the common good.  

But Truth itself, the truth which would comprehensively explain our life as individuals and in society, is regarded with suspicion.  

Surely this kind of truth — we hear it said — is what was claimed by the great totalitarian movements of the last century, a truth that imposed its own world view in order to crush the actual lives of individuals.  

In the end, what we are left with is relativism, in which the question of universal truth — and ultimately this means the question of God — is no longer relevant.  

It would be logical, from this point of view, to attempt to sever the bond between religion and truth, because it seems to lie at the root of fanaticism, which proves oppressive for anyone who does not share the same beliefs.  

In this regard, though, we can speak of a massive amnesia in our contemporary world.  

The question of truth is really a question of memory, deep memory, for it deals with something prior to ourselves and can succeed in uniting us in a way that transcends our petty and limited individual consciousness.  

It is a question about the origin of all that is, in whose light we can glimpse the goal and thus the meaning of our common path"

One has to say that as a criticism of modern society and politics, there can be no harsher judgment

I wonder what modern Ahazs the two Popes had in mind when they composed  this passage

The Pope and the Ambassador

Benedetto Luti (1666–1724)

Pius V and the Ambassador of the King of Poland

Black and red chalk, brush and brown wash, highlighted with white

15-7/16 x 21-3/4 in. (39.2 x 55.2 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This is a modello of a now lost work which originally hung in the Palazzo Albane delle Quattro Fontane in Rome

It was commissioned by the Master General of the Dominican Order Father Jean Francois Antonin Cloche (1628 - 1720)  He was Master of the Order for 34 years

Although an ascetic he did act as a grand seigneur and was a great patron of the arts in Rome

The commission was to commemorate the canonisation of the Dominican Pope and Saint, Saint Pope Pius V (Michele Ghislieri) which took place in 1712

It was a gift for the then Pope Clement XI (of the Albani family)

Pius V ruled from 1559 to 1565 and the picture depicts an event in that time occurring in St Peter`s Square during the construction of the new Basilica

The King of Poland at the time was Sigismund II Augustus I, the last of the Jagiellons without whom Catholicism would not be the same in Poland today as it is. He allowed the Jesuits into Poland in 1564 

The Jesuits and the Dominicans were the main Catholic reformers in Poland at the time

Both Pius V and the King died in 1572

The picture represents an apocryphal tale from the life of the Pope about whom many tales were told of miracles occurring even when he was still alive

While walking in the Vatican Piazza, which is built on the site of the ancient Circus of Nero, he was reminded of the martyrs who had suffered on that very site. He took up a handful of dust  and put the dust into a cloth which the Ambassador of Poland, who was with him, held out to receive it. 

When the Ambassador opened the cloth, after returning to his house, he found it all saturated with blood, and the dust had disappeared. 

A charming story but  legend

Arcabas

Jean-Marie Pirot known as Arcabas b. 1926

Adam et Eve chassés du Paradis (chapelle sud)

Adam and Eve driven from Paradise (South chapel)

Fresco

Musée d'art sacré contemporain Saint-Hugues, Chartreuse, France

Jean-Marie Pirot known as Arcabas b. 1926

La Libération de l'Apôtre Pierre 

The Freeing of the Apostle Peter 1983

Fresco

Musée d'art sacré contemporain Saint-Hugues, Chartreuse, France

Jean-Marie Pirot known as Arcabas is a distinguished French artist born in 1926 

His works include many of a religious nature

His main monumental work is in the  Musée d'art sacré contemporain Saint-Hugues in Chartreuse, France. It is truly a monument to the Gospels and to his faith. He has worked on it for over 60 years

Here is his Hommage à Bernanos (the distinguished French Catholic writer) (painted in 1962) which is on  special exhibition at the Chapelle des Petits-Carmes in Metz, France

His works are in many churches not only in Europe but also in North America. 

Here is a particularly beautiful Prodigal Son situated in Bergamo, Italy

Jean-Marie Pirot known as Arcabas b. 1926

Le Fils Prodigue

The Prodigal Son

Oil on canvas

1.3 x 1.62 m

Cappella della Riconciliazione, Costa Serina, Bergamo

Sibling rivalry

Paul the Apostle preaching in front of a great number of Jews and Gentiles in Rome

From a copy of the Pauline Epistles and copies of Alcuin's works "De dialectica" and "De rhetorica" and of the work "Peri hermeneias"

Written in the monastery of St. Gall in the second half of the 9th century, with amendments from the 11th century

Parchment 21.4 x 16.7 cm 

Cod. Sang. 64, 12

Stiftsbibliothek, St. Gallen

The 9th century drawing shows St Paul standing in front of a group of Jews and Gentiles in Rome. He is preaching to them but the audience is restless and argumentative

Paul is acting as peacemaker and trying to restore peace among the quarelling people. He is reddens concordes rebeccae ventre frequentes, says the inscription ("Restoring peace and harmony among the bickering children of Rebecca`s womb")

The picture accompanies an introduction to a commentary on one of St Paul`s Letter to the Romans. 

The author is the monk Pelagus who tells the tale of a a dispute between the Jews and Gentiles of St Paul`s day who had converted to Christianity. 

They believed that each group was more deserving of salvation.

Paul stopped the argument by insisting that each was equally deserving of salvation and not deserving of salvation

In Romans 9 and following St Paul addresses Israel’s unbelief and its rejection of Jesus as saviour. He discourages both complacency and anxiety on the part of Gentiles. To those who might boast of their superior advantage over Jews, he warns that their enjoyment of the blessings assigned to Israel can be terminated. 

St Paul uses the example of Jacob and Esau born of Rebecca:

"but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one husband, our father Isaac— 

11 before they had yet been born or had done anything, good or bad, in order that God’s elective plan might continue, 

12 not by works but by his call—she was told, “The older shall serve the younger"

Both religions took the prophecy made to Rebecca ("Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples are quarrelling while still within you. But one shall surpass the other and the older shall serve the younger"[Gn 25:23]) to further their competing claims to divine favour

However they argued so much in her womb Rebecca cried out: “If it is like this, why go on living!” 

Fire fighters

Città del Vaticano: The National Fire College being received by Paul VI in 1971 (in the centre, Don Ettore Ballerini)

Unfortunately the worldwise 24 hour news cycle has almost obliterated the selfless heroism of the nineteen firefighters in Arizona who perished yesterday while carrying out their duty

They should never be forgotten. 

However modern society appears to have a short attention span. Firefighting appears to some to be another "job"

During the pontificates of Paul VI and Blessed John Paul II, there was an annual event at the Vatican which appears to have fallen into desuetude: a talk to the students of the College of the Italian Fire Service

The talks were, of course, in Italian and the Vatican website has not got round to translating them

The talks were actually quite profound. Pope Paul VI talked of fire fighters having a "mission"

Paul VI in 1972 praised the firefighters for their discipline, the faithfulness to duty, the spirit of sacrifice, the courage and above all the selflessness and utter disposal of self to others

He went on:

"La preparazione pertanto che vi viene impartita ha un alto significato umano e cristiano. La vostra non è soltanto una scuola di abilità e destrezza personale, ma altresì palestra di severe virtù, tanto più apprezzabile in un tempo in cui i rapporti umani sono tante volte viziati dal freddo egoismo, e si parla più volentieri di diritti che di doveri. 

Diciamo di più, questo tirocinio di dedizione a servizio del prossimo è una ricchezza spirituale, che raffina e matura la vostra personalità umana, perché l’uomo raggiunge la sua vera statura nell’amore per gli altri. 

E se saprete far ciò con retta intenzione e con spirito sinceramente cristiano, voi ne avrete certamente la ricompensa dal Signore, che non lascia mai senza premio quanto si è fatto per gli altri nel suo nome."

All his annual talks and those of Blessed John Paul II were of a similar vein

Pope Francis I should revive the custom forthwith

Noah and the Deluge

f. 7v, Noah builds the ark, instructed by God and later boards it, carrying animals, followed by his family. 

From the 'Holkham Bible Picture Book' Add MS 47682

England: second quarter of the 14th century

Parchment codex

285 x 210 mm 

The British Library, London

f. 8r, The dove and the raven released by Noah, with drowning people and animals in the water beneath the ark. 

From the 'Holkham Bible Picture Book' Add MS 47682

England: second quarter of the 14th century

Parchment codex

285 x 210 mm 

The British Library, London

f. 8v, The ark is perched on top of the mountain, while Noah disembarks to cultivate vines and build an altar.

From the 'Holkham Bible Picture Book' Add MS 47682

England: second quarter of the 14th century

Parchment codex

285 x 210 mm 

The British Library, London

The Holkham Bible Picture Book is one of the treasures of the British Library

The book was probably made in London in the mid-14th century about the time of Geoffrey Chaucer's birth

It was commissioned by a Dominican friar with seculars executing the images and the texts

There are three pages devoted to Noah including the Deluge and the Noahide Covenant

The depiction of Noah and his family`s adventures was common in medieval manuscripts (including the Bedford Hours also in The British Library) as well as in ecclesiastical architecture such as the Cathedral at Monreale, the Basilica of San Marco in Venice and Paolo Uccello`s frescoes in the Green Cloister at Santa Maria Novella in Florence

The story of Noah is in Genesis 6 - 9

In The City of God, St Augustine saw the Ark as Christ and the Church

It was this interpretation which held sway in medieval times

The "second St Augustine", Hugh of St Victor (c. 1096 - 1141) was fascinated by the image of the Ark of Noah

Of his views about the interpretation of Scripture and of history, Pope Benedict XVI said:

"To interpret Scripture he [Hugh of St Victor] suggests the traditional patristic and medieval structure, namely, the literal and historical sense first of all, then the allegorical and anagogical and, lastly, the moral.  

These are four dimensions of the meaning of Scripture that are being rediscovered even today.  

For this reason one sees that in the text and in the proposed narrative a more profound meaning is concealed: the thread of faith that leads us heavenwards and guides us on this earth, teaching us how to live.  

Yet, while respecting these four dimensions of the meaning of Scripture, in an original way in comparison with his contemporaries, Hugh of Saint-Victor insists and this is something new on the importance of the historical and literal meaning.  

In other words before discovering the symbolic value, the deeper dimensions of the biblical text, it is necessary to know and to examine the meaning of the event as it is told in Scripture. Otherwise, he warns, using an effective comparison, one risks being like grammarians who do not know the elementary rules.  

To those who know the meaning of history as described in the Bible, human events appear marked by divine Providence, in accordance with a clearly ordained plan. Thus, for Hugh of Saint-Victor, history is neither the outcome of a blind destiny nor as meaningless as it might seem.  

On the contrary, the Holy Spirit is at work in human history and inspires the marvellous dialogue of human beings with God, their friend. This theological view of history highlights the astonishing and salvific intervention of God who truly enters and acts in history.  

It is almost as if he takes part in our history, while ever preserving and respecting the human being's freedom and responsibility."

Hugh of St. Victor wrote three major spiritual works which are devoted to the theme of Noah's Ark: the De Arca Noe Morali, the De Arca Noe Mystica,(variously called De Pictura Arcae and De Reformatione Arcae in the manuscripts), and the De Vanitate Mundi

At the beginning of lessons for his pupils he drew a large Ark over which he superimposed the figure of Christ. His lectures were to explain the drawing

For Hugh of St Victor, the Deluge was considered to prefigure baptism, while the Ark was the symbol for Christ and the Church itself. 

The  water of the baptism removes the original sin, while that of the flood cleansed the world of sinners. 

Noah was saved from the water by the wood of the Ark, just as the wood of the Cross offers salvation to those who are in the Church. 

Three different patterns of behaviour may be distinguished in human beings: while the righteous take refuge in the Ark (the Church) and find salvation therein, the damned attempt to assail it, and others are lost due to their excessive attachment to worldly things, and seek safety carrying their possessions with them. 

But that is an oversimplification

He went on to say:

"We set out to talk about one ark and one thing has so led to another that it seems now we have to speak not of one only, but of four . . . The first is that which Noah made, with hatchets and axes, using wood and pitch as his materials. The second is that which Christ made through His preachers by gathering the nations into a single confession of faith. The third is that which wisdom builds daily in our hearts through continual meditation on the law of God. The fourth is that which mother grace effects in us by joining together many virtues in a single charity" Noah`s Ark, Bk I, ch. 11

Later he wrote:

"If the Ark signifies the Church, it follows that the length of the Ark is a figure of the length of the Church. But the Church's length is to be seen in the duration of the successive periods of her history, just as her breadth is in the multitude of the peoples she includes.  

For the Church is said to widen when the number of her believers is increased, and many are gathered to the faith; while her length consists in that prolongation in time whereby she reaches out of the past, through the present into the future. This length of hers in time is from the beginning of the world to its end.  

For Holy Church started in her faithful ones from the beginning, and will last until the end of time. We believe, indeed, that there is no period from the beginning of the world until the end of time in which believers in Christ will not be found."

And in De Arca Noah Mystica (MPL, clxxvi, col. 684CD). MS Laud. Misc. 370, fol.47v he wrote

"The Ark leans on the column, and his Church leans upon Christ, for undoubtedly she could not stand at all if he did not hold her up, according to that word in the Canticle: Who is she that comes up radiant from the desert, leaning upon her beloved? 

Again, just as the column is the measure of the height of each floor, so Christ gives to each one his measure of virtue and progress. And as it divides the different compartments, so Christ at his good pleasure divides the gifts of his graces in Holy Church, making some prophets, others apostles, yet others evangelists, and all the other different functions that have a share in spiritual gifts.  

So too, as the column is always in the central position, our Lord Jesus Christ has said: Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. 

If, then, we are so weak as to be unable to go up to the third or second floor, let us not lose heart, but let us be gathered together by faith in his name that we may at least be on the ground floor, in the unity of the Church.  

There let us hold true and unshakeable faith and he will come to us, that he may stand in our midst to praise our good beginning, while being ready at the same time to help us to rise to higher things, that he may be one in all, one among all, one above all, even Jesus Christ our Lord"

Grains of Wheat

Vincent Van Gogh  1853-1890

The Sower with Setting Sun

1888

Oil on canvas

73.5 x 93 cm

Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Buhrle, Zurich

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) 

The Harvest

1888

Oil on Canvas, 73 x 92 cm 

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Van Gogh`s  father was the Minister of the small Reformed congregation in Nuenen. Van Gogh`s knowledge of Scripture was profound and he tried at one stage to become a minister too

The parables of Christ appear to have been among his favourite passages. The Sower is one of his constant references. As is the parable of the grain of wheat in John 12. Fields of golden wheat are one of his main themes

In a letter to his brother Theo  in 1883 Van Gogh  wrote:

"I’m not an artist — how coarse that is — even to think it of oneself — should one not have patience, not learn patience from nature, learn patience from seeing the wheat slowly come up, the growing of things — should one think oneself such a hugely dead thing that one believed one wouldn’t grow? Should one deliberately discourage one’s development?  

I say this to show why I find it so silly to talk about gifts and no gifts.  

But if one wants to grow, one must fall into the earth. So I say to you, plant yourself in the soil of Drenthe — you will sprout there. Don’t shrivel up on the pavement. You’ll say that there are city plants — well yes, but you are wheat and belong in the wheatfield"

The connection between wheat and the Eucharist needs no explanation

Parables involving wheat are not unusual. See the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew 13

In a recent visit to Scotland Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith gave a series of major speeches/homilies to a beleaguered Scottish Church

In one of them he spoke of the parable of the grain of wheat and the meeting of Christ with the pilgrims from the Diaspora and the crowd in John 12

"I am thinking of Chapter 12 in John’s Gospel, verses 20 to 33. 

In this text St John allows us to overhear Jesus praying to his Father. The prayer, in fact, ends with the words, “Father, glorify your name”, a phrase familiar to us from other reported prayers of Jesus. 

But there is something unusual, all the same, about the prayer. It is not uttered in solitude, alone with his Father, in preparation for some major decision; nor is it said in the remote solitude of a high mountain; nor at the Last Supper with a few chosen friends; nor in the solitude of the Garden of Gethsemane.  

No – while Jesus is praying, he is surrounded by all kinds of different people. 

The text speaks, first of all, of a number of Greeks who had arrived in time for the Feast, and who had expressed the desire “to see Jesus”. Then Philip and Andrew are mentioned. 

And, finally, we hear of a crowd of bystanders. 

What is impressive here is that, although Jesus finds himself surrounded by all kinds of noise and commotion, and by different individuals seeking his attention, he is still able to find time to pray. 

And that, of course, is what is encouraging to witness in the lives of many hard-working parish priests today. Their life of prayer does not take place in the quiet solitude of a monastery, but instead at the pulsing heart of a busy parish with all its pressures and demands. 

A life of dedicated prayer, in other words, but one achieved against the odds, and in the midst of the world. 

The prayer spoken by Jesus to his Father is brief but unforgettable. He says: 

“Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” 

Just before he pronounced this prayer, while the crowd were listening, Jesus did not hesitate to deliver a number of robust and challenging statements.  

Here is one, for example: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” A hard saying indeed! The words themselves: confident, hard-edged, and authoritative. 

But, when Jesus starts to pray, moments later, we have the impression that, all of a sudden, he has been struck by the force and meaning of his own words.  

It is a rare moment in a Johannine text: this sudden, hurt inwardness, this dawning realization, on the part of Jesus, of the sacrifice that is being asked of him: 

“Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Save me from this hour?” ... 

The most human thing in the world is to want to avoid the cross, and to want to say to God “Save me from this hour”. 

But if, in those moments of great fear and anxiety, we fall back on his grace, and on his strength as God, we will find courage to say, “No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

In a homily on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, 29 March 2009, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of this passage in Scripture:

"In the request of these anonymous Greeks we can interpret the thirst to see and to know Christ which is in every person's heart; and Jesus' answer orients us to the mystery of Easter, the glorious manifestation of his saving mission. 

"The hour has come", he declared, "for the Son of man to be glorified (Jn 12: 23). Yes! 

The hour of the glorification of the Son of man is at hand, but it will entail the sorrowful passage through his Passion and death on the Cross. Indeed the divine plan of salvation which is for everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike will only be brought about in this manner. Actually, everyone is invited to be a member of the one people of the new and definitive Covenant.  

In this light, we also understand the solemn proclamation with which the Gospel passage ends: "and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12: 32), and likewise the Evangelist's comment: "He said this to show by what death he was to die" (Jn 12: 33). The Cross: the height loftiness of love is the loftiness of Jesus and he attracts all to these heights. ... 

What our association with his mission consists of is explained by the Lord himself. In speaking of his forthcoming glorious death, he uses a simple and at the same time evocative image: "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn 12: 24).  

He compares himself to a "grain of wheat which has split open, to bring much fruit to others", according to an effective statement of St Athanasius; it is only through death, through the Cross that Christ bears much fruit for all the centuries.  

Indeed, it was not enough for the Son of God to become incarnate.  

To bring the divine plan of universal salvation to completion he had to be killed and buried: only in this way was human reality to be accepted, and, through his death and Resurrection, the triumph of Life, the triumph of Love to be made manifest; it was to be proven that love is stronger than death."