Art/ Heritage

‘The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise’ by Benjamin West (1791)

 Benjamin West (1728-1820), an Anglo- American history painter, was hailed the ‘American Raphael’. He lived during the era of the American War of Independence and the Seven Years War. Although born in Pennsylvania in 1728, he settled in London in 1763. Here he received the patronage of King George III and the assurance of the financial support of the Crown.  

In 1779, West intended to execute one of his greatest conceived projects. He desired to rebuild the Royal Chapel at the Windsor Castle. However, sadly, this scheme was abruptly cancelled by the King of England in 1801. Subsequently many of his completed individual paintings, including the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, were lost. After nearly two centuries it resurfaced at an auction in London in 1989.

Unlike popular culture, West in his painting depicts not the Garden of Paradise teeming with natural beauty and peaceful glory but rather draws us to the very heart of this theological, mystical and spiritual subject.

‘Fearfully and wonderfully made’, the first humans are placed into an eternal garden with practically free reign. ‘Eat of all the trees in the garden, save one i.e. ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’’. However in walks the deceiver embodied as a serpent. Confident of the outcome of the snack, he makes no casual conversation. He lures man and woman into a stolen identity, to ‘be like God’ but without God and not in accordance to His will. In this way he shrewdly sets up the humans, or God or both for a confrontation.

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Art/ Heritage

 ‘The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament’ by Raphael (1509 – 1510) PART 2

 Breathing the spirit of the Renaissance, faith, theology, science and grace, Raphael’s Disputation of the Holy Sacrament is a pledge towards human knowledge and divine wisdom. His complex composition fits the semi-circular wall with utmost simplicity. Notice the golden dome of heaven, the glorious aureole of Christ, and the halo of the Holy Spirit! Each Person of the Trinity descends in radiant circles. In a climactic moment they culminate in the Sacred Host (circular) which is placed within a ring shaped pyx.

The circle, since antiquity, is universally associated with Infinity. Raphael through his painting demonstrates the absolute wisdom of the Infinite God present in the Holy Eucharist. But can a finite mortal comprehend this infinite mystery? Most definitely, the answer is no. Raphael, in the third realm, attempts to display the efforts taken by the finite intellect to grasp the nature of things beyond their senses. He places the vanishing point at the Monstrance that carries the Sacred Host. Thematically accurate, it is the Sacred Host that serves as a mediation between the finite and the Infinite.

The Monstrance is placed on a rectangular stone. Symbolically this can be interpreted as faith placed on the Cornerstone which is Christ Himself. It also serves as an attribute to faith placed on a rock on which Christ built His Church i.e. Peter and his successors. Thus, Raphael inscribes the words ‘Pope Julius II, Pontifex Maximus’ upon the frontal of the altar. Julius II was the Pope who commissioned the painting in 1509. The inscription is surrounded by a mandala of knots, yet another representation of Infinity.

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Faith

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary – Lk 2:41-51

Make no mistake; my mother would not hesitate to give me a resounding whack if after looking for me for three days I said to her, “”Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” My mother, the saintly woman that she is, would have just given into the stress of searching for me and as punishment left me another three days “in my father’s house”.

But Mary is gentle in heart and that gentleness is communicated in words, “”Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” Even more we are told that Mary “kept all these things in her heart.”  It is this heart of a mother and disciple that today we celebrate in the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has its origins in the middle ages but was actively promoted by St. John Eudes a native of France in the 17th century.

Mary, ‘the first disciple’ is always close to her son Jesus and so the Church honours the heart of Mary a day later after the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. While the heart of Jesus  is given to us for imitation as a heart that loved us all even though we were sinners who rejected His  unconditional love, the heart of Mary is given to us by the Church as a model of  how we should love Jesus just as Mary loved her son. Hers is an Immaculate Heart, a sinless heart and she is the only fully human person who is able to really love God in the way that he should be loved.

Make no mistake; the heart of Mary is not some romanticized religious presentation of Mary but one that fully experienced both joy and suffering. When the shepherds adored her new born baby she “pondered all these things in her heart”. When the child Jesus was lost and then found she, “kept all these things in her heart” and yes Simeon also predicted that this very “heart would be pierced by a sword”.  There could have been no greater sorrow for a mother who was also a disciple, to stand at the foot of the cross and watch her son die.

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Opinion

Be sporting, give your very best!

There’s a joke about Jesus viewing a football match between the ‘Catholic Conquerors’ and ‘Protestant
Punchers’. Both teams were excellent; the match was exciting. The Conquerors scored a goal first. Jesus jumped up, whistled wildly and applauded appreciatively. Then, the Punchers scored. Again, Jesus jumped up, whistled and clapped riotously. Puzzled, a spectator near him asked: “Which side are you shouting for?” Jesus replied, “I’m not cheering for any side. I’m just enjoying the game!” The man turned to his neighbour and sneered, “Hmmm, look at that atheist!”
If Rama, Jesus, Buddha, Mahavira, Guru Nanak or any other Mahatma was asked which team he was for, and which against, would any of them choose just one and condemn others? I think not. Many might also frown upon juxtaposing sports with spirituality. Yet, June 1, Vatican’s Commission for Family and Life published a must-read document entitled: ‘Give the Best of Yourself: Christian Perspectives on Sport and Life’.
‘Sport’ stems from the Old French expression desporter or se desporter – derived from the Latin
de(s)portare – meaning, to amuse oneself. Sure, a sports’ buff amuses oneself. But, once out on the field or court, one comes face-to-face with competitors to compete. The word ‘compete’ derives from two Latin roots ‘com’, meaning ‘with’ and ‘petere’, meaning ‘to strive’ or ‘to seek’. True competitors ‘strive or seek together’ for excellence. We have much to learn from competitors who shake hands, embrace, or share a meal after an intense contest.
Books like ‘If Cricket is Religion, Sachin is God’ felicitously wed sport with religion. Interestingly, in
1904, Pope Pius X opened the doors of the Vatican to sport by hosting a gymnastics event, much to the
chagrin of one of his counsellors. When questioned by him: “Where are we going to finish?” the pope
replied, tongue-in-cheek, “In Paradise, my dear!”
Pope Francis writes: “The bond between the church and the world of sports is a beautiful reality that has strengthened over time, for the church sees in sports a powerful instrument for the integral growth of the human person. Engaging in sports, in fact, rouses us to go beyond ourselves and our own self interests in a healthy way; it trains the spirit in sacrifice and, if it is organised well, it fosters loyalty in interpersonal relations, friendship, and respect for rules.”
The IPL of cricket, and its’ recent spillover in kabaddi and football are heartwarming national unifiers. FIFA World Cup 2018 will soon see frenzied fans following every move of a mesmerising Messi; Wimbledon will showcase the sturdy serenity of a never-say-die mother, Serena Williams; while another mother, Mary Kom, still packs a punch in her matchless bouts.
“I play for my country. For me, it must be everything or nothing,” said AB de Villiers recently, on retiring from cricket. His stress on “everything or nothing” is striking. In his autobiography he writes: “This book is not my story. It is the story of what God has planned and realised through me … I would really like people to appreciate that whatever glory there may be needs to be recognised as His glory, not mine.”
You cannot cross a yawning chasm with a series of little jumps; only a mighty leap would work. So, be
sporting! Pope Francis concludes: “Give life your very best; spend your life on what really matters and
lasts forever.
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Faith

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus goes back to the 11th century and presents the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus. This feast was first celebrated liturgically in France in 1670 as a consequence of the revelations to St Mary Margaret Alacoque.

In 1856, Pope Pius IX established the feast and added an octave which was later dropped during the 1955 liturgical reforms of the Church. Since 2002, this feast has also been celebrated as a day of prayer for the sanctification of priests, and in 2009 the ‘year of the priesthood’ began.

The heart is traditionally accepted as the seat of love. In celebrating Jesus’ Sacred Heart, we are celebrating the great love that Jesus had; a love that He received from His Father and for which He gave thanks for. It is this love that Jesus shares with us and willing walks to the cross out of love for us.

 What is it that God revealed in the heart of Jesus? God revealed that Jesus has been handed all things, and the unique knowledge of the Son or the Father is given only by the Son to those whom He chooses.  Jesus is the exclusive revelation of the Father.

The heart of Jesus also reveals a compassionate Saviour. Jesus says, “Come to me you who labour and are overburdened. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yolk is easy and my burden light.”

The feast of the Sacred Heart reveals not only the compassionate heart of the Father as revealed to us by Jesus, but also His heart of compassion. The etymology of this word ‘compassion’ helps us understand the heart of Jesus. It comes from the Latin word compassionem, meaning ‘to suffer together’.

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an invitation not merely to adore His heart, but to live the revelation of a compassionate God.

Fr Warner D’Souza

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