Mother Mary Images with Meaning
Mother Mary is the woman most portrayed in art. No doubt, you have your favorite image of her. Today I present three of my favorites.
Mother Mary’s Looks
In the first century, cameras were not yet invented, so we don’t know what Mary looked like. Because she lived in first-century Israel, a Middle Eastern country, we can assume that she most likely had tan skin, brown eyes, brown or black hair and was short—5-feet tall or less. (This description contradicts modern images of pale, blond, blue-eyed Mary.) Visionaries described Mary as beautiful in her apparitions on earth. In these cases she takes on the looks of the nation where she is appearing. For example, Our Lady of Guadalupe came as a pregnant Aztec woman.
Mary’s Statue at Our Convent
At the entrance to the Sisters of Notre Dame property in Chardon, stands a bronze statue of Mary as the Immaculate Conception. Her foot is treading the serpent, symbol of Satan, whom her Son conquered. She gazes down at the viewer with open hands, as though she is welcoming us, preparing to embrace us, or ready to respond to our pleas.
I have an affinity to this statue because long ago we were united. As I took my geometry test at the end of my sophomore year at Notre Dame Academy, Sister David called me away. I was to be photographed standing with this statue, which at the time stood at the Notre Dame provincial center on Ansel Road in Cleveland. This photo was published in our diocesan newspaper along with the article about the Sisters relocating to Chardon. Later, I was pleased to discover that this statue made the move too. Nowadays each evening, weather permitting, I take a walk to it.
My Statue of Mary
When I became diocesan vocation co-director, my office downtown needed a statue of Mary, I decided to find one with Jesus. After all, our Blessed Mother became the most powerful woman in the world because of him. At a conference at Regina High School, on a religious goods table there was a beautiful statue of Mary that conveyed her purity, humility, and tenderness. I fell in love with it at first sight.
However, the statue was of her alone. No Jesus. Besides, it was also too expensive for me. Fortunately, at the end of the day, a sign on the table read, “ Everything half price.” “This statue too?” I asked. “Yes, and you get the clergy discount.” I purchased it, rationalizing that Mary was pregnant with Jesus. The statue now stands in my bedroom. A tiny terra cotta Baby Jesus figurine is next to is.
Mother Mary’s Icon
I usually do not care for icons (“windows into heaven”), but Our Lady of Perpetual Help is an exception. This 15th century picture does show Mary with Jesus, but she is not looking at him. Instead, she is looking directly at us, her other children. She is always ready to help with whatever concern we have in our heart just as she was always there for Jesus.
History of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Supposedly a merchant who stole this icon from a church in Crete brought it to Rome, claiming that it was miraculous. Mother Mary appeared to a girl and asked that the image be placed in the Church of St. Matthew the Apostle, saying, “So that all who seek my help will receive it.” During the war the icon was taken away for safety and disappeared. It was recovered, given to the Redemptorists, and now is displayed in the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome. In the 1990s it was restored.
The Child Jesus
Jesus is not looking at you or his mother. He is frightened because he knows his future depicted above him. Archangels hold the instruments of his crucifixion. Saint Michael has the spear and wine-soaked sponge, while Gabriel carries the cross and nails. Jesus finds refuge in his mother. He grasps her thumb. Notice that he has run to her for comfort so quickly that his sandal falls off and dangles at the bottom of the picture.
The icon’s message is that Mary is a mother to you too. Whenever you are in need, she lovingly invites you to come to her for comfort and help. She will intercede for you with her Son.
Theology of Mother Mary
Click on the link to view a short video summarizing what we Catholics believe about Mary.
• What is your favorite image or images or the Blessed Virgin Mary?
* Where do you display an image of Mary?
Here is arguably the most famous Marian hymn:
Churches and an SND Chapel to Explore
I recently discovered that popular Catholic pilgrimages involve visits to many churches, basilicas, and shrines. This prompted me to present a virtual visit to the SND chapel in our Province Center. You will see that it is rich in symbolism.
The Gathering Space
Before entering the chapel, you come to the gathering place. One wall is covered with clay plaques. At the time of the chapel’s renovation, each Sister made one to represent herself and wrote an explanation of it. A book on a stand there holds these explanations and when a Sister dies, it is opened to her page.
My plaque has a large chi-rho (P and X — Greek “Chr”) for Christ the King. I celebrate my name day on the feast of Christ the King, and my religious name was Kirene from chi-rho. I included a rock from the Holy Land where I visited once and a tiny dove for the Holy Spirit who inspires all my writing.
Also in the gathering space stands a statue of our spiritual mother, St. Julie Billiart, created by Sister Megan Dull. It depicts her soul, which is always focused on God.
Off to the right is the sacristy room.
Chapel Proper
Walking into the chapel, to the right you see a lighted case holding the three sacred oils: oil of catechumens, holy chrism, and oil of the sick. These are in hand-blown German glass, a reminder of our German roots. Next to the case is a Reconciliation room.
Facing you is a large baptismal font formed by large rocks taken from our property. Why a baptismal font in a convent? Our religious vows are rooted in our baptismal promises. The font is in a direct line with the altar and the tabernacle, expressing the connection.
The altar is a squared circle, a paradox like the mystery of God that will take place on it. The tabernacle, decorated with three red drops of blood, is behind a large glass screen of red and blue that becomes transparent at the top. Chairs before the tabernacle are for private prayer. The wall behind it has a narrow, rectangular stained-glass window. Above is a round stained-glass window of red and blue whose colors shift, representing the mystery of God and his actions in our lives.
At the side is an unusual Y-shaped crucifix modeled after the 13th century one in a Coesfeld, Germany parish, where our two founders lived and worked. It can be used as a processional cross.
Devotional Stations
Around the back wall of the chapel are five devotional stations. They include stained-glass windows created by an SND long ago for the previous chapel.
Station One
The first station represents the Communion of Saints and heaven’s glory. The triptych of quilts sewn by our Sisters show the progression from earth to glory.
A large open book is the Book of Life in which names of deceased Sisters from 1877 are beautifully recorded by our calligrapher, Sr. Joanne Zeitz. A book for writing down intentions is also displayed.
Station Two
The second station contains a realistic statue of Mary and chairs where you can converse with her. Currently it also has reminders to pray for the situation in the Ukraine. I used a picture of this statue for the cover of my yearly devotional book Heart to Heart with Mary.
Station Three
The next station is a liturgical one for items representing the Church year seasons and feast. At Easter it holds a statue of the Risen Lord, and at Christmas a large Nativity set. Now you see statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Station Four
The last station is our historical station. Pictures of St. Julie, our spiritual mother, and Sister Aldegonda, our founder, are displayed as well as handwritten letters from our community leaders. The back wall has a magnificent triptych painted by Sr. Carol Dikovitsky. It represents the love of God flowing down through all the ages. The Coesfeld cross and a fleur-de-lis for French St. Julie. On either side are circles with symbols of the continents where SNDs are present.
Dots in the blue background form animals and constellations in God’s creation. I like to have visitors detect them. In a wooden case below rests a relic of St. Julie, her anklebone.
Way of the Cross
Along the back of the chapel are free-standing stations of the cross from the walls of the original chapel.
Choir
On the left side of chapel are the organ, piano, chairs for the singers, and tables for the bell ringers. A bass and sometimes flutes and a viola accompany the music.
There is no clock because in the chapel is God’s time.
A large sheet of glass at the back of chapel contains the names of donors who contributed to the chapel renovation.
SND Chapel’s Exterior
Your Church
• How familiar are you with your church? What shape is it? Does it have special features? What do its stained-glass windows represent? Where is its baptismal font?
• Have you ever investigated your cathedral? It probably has many interesting features.
Video
Every day I receive an email written by a priest who presents artwork related to the day’s Gospel and explains the Word. Recently, he included a video explaining one feature of Westminster Cathedral. I thought you might be interested in it:
Charles de Foucauld: Sinner, Hermit, Saint
I was happy when Charles de Foucauld was canonized in 2022. Several times he has crossed my life. Most memorable is discovering his morning prayer, “Lord, one more day to love you.” As a young sister, I was moved by these words. What a great way to start the day: thinking of God, thanking him for the gift of life, and preparing to carry out the day’s tasks for love of God. As a craft, I created a banner with these words and saved it all these decades! You can see it here.
Much later a fellow teacher gave me a terra cotta baby Jesus made by the Little Sisters of Jesus, a community based on the spirituality of St. Charles. The figure has the symbol of St. Charles on the back: the heart and a cross.
Then when I was on a pilgrimage in the Holy Land, in Nazareth we stopped at the Poor Clare convent where St. Charles worked as a porter and servant, and we prayed in its chapel.
Another saying of St. Charles that I like is “Jesus is Lord of the impossible.”
Who Is Charles de Foucauld?
Dorothy Day claimed that he was among the greats. Born in 1858 to French nobility, he was orphaned when he was six. His grandfather raised him. For twelve years he was an agnostic. He lead a dissipated life and was expelled from school. A large inheritance supported his extravagant lifestyle. He attended Saint-Cyr Military Academy and the French cavalry school, but, restless, he quit the military at age 23. Then he traveled and studied the geography and culture of Algeria and Morocco, receiving a gold medal for his exploration and research.
Conversion
In Morocco he encountered Muslims of strong faith and began praying, “My God, if you exist, let me come to know you.” He returned to the Catholic faith at age 28. During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he realized that his vocation was to follow Jesus in his simple life at Nazareth.
St. Charles became a Trappist and took the name Charles of Jesus. However, he considered the villagers more poverty-stricken than they. So, after seven years, he left the order, moved to Palestine where he lived in one small room, prayed, and worked for the Poor Clares. He was ordained a priest when he was 43.
He went to the Sahara in French Algeria and lived as a hermit near Morocco. His goal was to live among the furthest removed and the most abandoned. He built a hermitage where hospitality was offered to all regardless of their religion, and he dreamed of founding a community of “little brothers of Jesus.” He said, “Our entire person must breathe Jesus, all our actions.”
Life among the Tuaregs
After moving to southern Algeria, he lived with the Tuareg people, becoming their friends. Over ten years, he studied them, learned their language, translated their poetry, and worked on a dictionary and grammar. He wanted to live in such as way that people would ask, “If such is the servant, what must the Master be like?”
In 1916, bandits intended to kidnap him, but two French calvary members stopped them. A 15-year-od bandit shot St. Charles, and the two soldiers were also killed. The Tuareg people buried St. Charles the next morning. In 1944, the young bandit was executed.
The Legacy of St. Charles
Although the dream of founding a religious congregation never materialized, the spirit of St. Charles lives on in Little Brothers of Jesus, Little Sisters of Jesus, and 18 other religious organizations. His vision is one of radical simplicity, humility, solidarity with the marginalized, and deep-rooted love. We celebrate his feast day on December 1.
St. Charles’s Prayer of Abandonment
Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.
• Is there a saint who often comes across your path?
• Do you have a connection with the Little Brothers or Little Sisters of Jesus?
This hymn that is new to me summarizes St. Charles’s spirituality:
Ignatian Prayer with Senses and Imagination
Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, taught a way to meditate that is engrossing and entertaining. Moreover, it brings the Gospels to life. I included this method, a form of discursive meditation. in my book Praying with Scripture: The Bible: You’ve Got Mail. The following is an excerpt from my book. (I gave myself permission to quote it!) By the way, writing that book led to being hired as author of the The Catholic Children’s Bible (St. Mary’s Press).
St. Ignatius recommends asking God for a particular grace before meditating. Then follow these steps:
Preparation
Choose a Gospel passage. You might read it the day before.
1. Pray that you will make a good meditation.
The Method of Ignatian Prayer
2. Picture the composition of the passage you are meditating on. In this stage you are like director Steven Spielberg, planning the special effects. Fill in the sights, sounds, sensation, and smells, even the weather.
An Example
If, for example, you have chosen the story of Jesus raising to life the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:21–43) . . .
• In your mind’s eye visualize the one-room house.
• Hear the official mourners wailing.
• See the pale, inert body of the little girl on a mat on the floor.
• Picture the mother clothed in long garments, wringing her hands, her face red and swollen from crying.
• Visualize Jairus sweating and hustling Jesus across the threshold of the house.
• Watch Jesus stride over to the mat and take the girl gently by the hand.
• Hear him tell her in a soft voice to arise.
• Picture the amazed look on the faces of the parents and three apostles.
If you are not gifted with the power to paint a detailed scene in your mind, it doesn’t matter. A general idea will suffice. As an alternative, locate a picture of the scene on the Internet and gaze at it.
The Follow-Up
3. A. Let your intellect ask and answer questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? Before whom? For whom? Probe into the actions of Jesus and people’s reactions to him.
For the story of Jairus, you might answer questions like these:
Who was Jairus? Why did he ask Jesus to come? How did he feel when Jesus was delayed on the way by the desperate sick woman? How did Jairus look when the messengers told him his daughter had died? What did the mourners say to ridicule Jesus when he ordered them to go? Why did Jesus take only three apostles with him? What did they think about this? How did the girl feel when she opened her eyes and beheld the face of Jesus looking at her with love? Why did Jesus ask that the girl be given something to eat?
B. Ask how the situation applies to your life:
• In similar circumstances what do you do ? What will you do? What challenges might you meet? How will you handle them? For example, you might consider how you respond to people who appeal to you for help. Are you as quick to comply as Jesus was? When have you helped someone in need? When have you refused to? Why did you react as you did?
• Your reflections might veer along a tangent road, and you might think about your attitudes and actions when someone dies. How do you express your sympathy for the grieving family?
• Or you might ponder the end of the world when Christ’s voice will call you to rise to a new, glorified life. What will you feel like?
Praying to Jesus
As you reflect on your answers to the questions, you may have the impulse to address Jesus in prayer from time to time. Do not ignore this urge, for it is precisely the point of the meditation.
However, instead of interjecting prayers throughout your meditation, you might transform all of your reflections into one prayer in which you converse with Jesus about them. Usually this personal talk, called a colloquy, occurs at the end of your mental activity.
Although a colloquy is usually directed to Jesus, you might address God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, Mary, or one of the saints instead.
An Example
For the meditation on the daughter of Jairus story, your colloquy might run along these lines:
Jesus, Jairus had a lot of faith in you. In front of all the people, he asked you to come to his house. This gave you an opportunity to show everyone, including me, your power over life and death.
How frightened Jairus must have been when his little girl was near death! You were so good to respond immediately to his request. May I imitate your readiness to serve others even when it isn’t in my plans. Jairus had to be extremely frustrated when you stopped to talk to the sick woman. How impatient I am sometimes to have you answer my prayer quickly. Give me the grace to trust you.
Lord, your apostles probably wondered what you were going to do for Jairus after his daughter was pronounced dead. The three apostles you took with you were privileged to be your special friends. I would like to be that close to you.
Jesus, your tender, loving heart went out to those bereaved parents. I praise you and love you for your compassion. I know that you regard me with the same love.
4. Arrive at a resolution for action for the day. You might write it down in order to reinforce it in your mind. Then ask God the Holy Spirit to help you keep that resolution.
For more prayer hints see my earlier post.
• Have you ever prayed this way?
• What Gospel stories in particular lend themselves to this kind of vivid prayer?
• Pray this way sometime this week. Let me know how it worked for you.
St. Therese, a Little Flower but a Big Saint
St. Therese of Lisieux and her little way was the theme of my annual retreat last week. It gave me insight into her spirituality that made her the most popular saint of the modern world. I’ll share some salient points, but first a brief bio.
St. Therese’s Short Life
St. Therese was the youngest of four girls born to Zelie and Louis Martin. Zelie died when Therese was four and a half, so her oldest sister, Pauline became like a mother to her. As a child, she was pampered, given to tantrums, and often ill. During one sickness, she believed she was cured when Mary smiled on her.
From the age of nine, she desired to become a Carmelite nun. When she was fourteen, Therese applied to the convent but was told she was too young. During a visit to the Holy Father, she begged his permission to enter, but he only said to listen to the superiors. Still, she was able to join the nuns at the age of fifteen. She took the name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.
Therese wrote prayers, poems, and plays. At the request of her superiors, she wrote the story of her life and an explanation of her simple spirituality, termed “the little way.” This was published as The Story of a Soul, which became a best seller.
She viewed her vocation as being Love, praying for sinners and for priests.
Therese endured excruciating physical suffering from tuberculosis without being allowed morphine. She also suffered from a dark night of the soul (tortured by thinking God and heaven did not exist). Before dying at the age of twenty-four in 1897, she promised to spend her heaven letting a shower of roses fall on earth. She was canonized in 1924.
Her Spirituality
Some people are turned off by Therese’s “flowery” language and judge her as too sentimental for them. However her life and her teachings are a sound and sure path to sanctity. At heart, there is nothing easy about them. She did not experience ecstasies, visions, and other extraordinary graces.
Therese focused on God’s merciful love. No matter how weak and flawed she was, she knew God would always surround her with love and forgive her.
She realized she would never achieve great things for God like a martyr or a doctor of the Church, but she did little things for him, which required a great deal of discipline. For example, when the Sister doing laundry beside her splashed her with dirty water, Therese refrained from rebuking her. When a grumpy Sister who naturally repelled Therese constantly criticized her and complained, the saint was so loving toward her that the Sister asked, “What about me makes me so attractive to you?”
Therese said to God, “I choose all [that you will]. I do not want to be a saint by halves.”
Therese used metaphors to describe her life. As a former English teacher, I enjoyed this. Here are a few:
A Little Flower
Considering that she would not do outstanding things for God, Therese likened herself to a little flower. She reasoned that every flower had its own gifts, its own beauty. If the world had nothing but roses or lilies, it would be deprived of the tiny, dainty flowers that have their own loveliness and perfume. Likewise, people differ and give God praise by being the best they can be. She understood that “Jesus does not ask for great actions but only abandonment and gratitude.”
An Elevator
To attain union with God, an arduous journey is usually required like that of a missionary or a great preacher. Therese relied on God to do the work of her perfection. She wrote she wanted him to be like an elevator, taking her up to him.
A Little Bird
A young bird can’t fly yet. Compared to a soaring eagle, it is helpless. Similarly, Therese viewed herself like this bird. She needed God’s power and grace to live well. She abandoned herself to him.
Some Words of Saint Therese
I haven’t been a great fan of this little saint, but curiously this year someone gave me a medal with her relic inserted. That and her book and scads of handouts from the retreat suggest that I make her my friend in heaven.
“I ask Jesus to draw me into the flames of His love. to unite me so closely to him that he live an act in me.”
“We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful and so merciful. We obtain from him as much as we hope for.”
“Ah! I understand now that charity consists in bearing with the faults of others, in not being surprised at their weakness, in being edified by the smallest acts of virtue we see them practice.”
“Though you have the seraphim in your heavenly court, you still seek my love.”
“He finds few hearts who surrender to him without reservations, who understand the real tenderness of his infinite Love.”
Trivia about St. Therese
Both Therese’s parents are also canonized saints. During the last years of her father’s life, he suffered from dementia.
Therese’s three sisters also entered Carmel.
St. Teresa of Calcutta is named for this little Therese, not the big Teresa of Avila.
After Therese prayed for a sinner on death row, she read in a newspaper that before he was guillotined, he took a priest’s crucifix and kissed it.
To look older when she asked the Pope for permission to enter Carmel, she put up her hair.
Prayers to St. Therese
As a child you might have prayed, “Little Flower in this hour show your power.” Here is a prayer that’s a little longer:
• Have you ever received “a rose” from Saint Therese?
• Therese said, “Never have I heard him speak, but I feel that he is within me at each moment; he is guiding and inspiring me with what I must say and do.” Have you ever sensed God’s guidance in a striking way?
• “There are souls for whom his mercy never tires of waiting.” What people in need of conversion are you praying for?
