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The Catholic Leader, April 21, 2019
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By Effie Caldarola
WHEN we pray, sometimes we get
stuck in forms that we learned long
ago.
We box ourselves in with words rather than
open ourselves to silence and imagination.
We forget that prayer can happen anywhere,
anytime and that God speaks to us in many
ways.
One of the ways God often moves us and
touches us is through art.
Once, I mentioned a favourite poet to a friend
and she replied, “Oh, I don’t like poetry.”
I was shocked. How could someone dismiss
an entire genre of literature so casually?
Surely, some piece of poetry had once touched
her deeply and she’d just forgotten.
Sometimes, when we think of art – visual art,
literature, music, dance – we may fear it’s too
“highfalutin” for us.
But we shouldn’t feel that way.
Whether “lowbrow” or “highbrow,” whether
hip-hop or classical, whether we’ve taken an
art appreciation class or have a favourite poster
hanging above our computer, we should trust our
instincts if we feel moved toward God through
the art we encounter.
Art that touches us opens our imagination to
the Lord.
In searching for art that evokes prayer about
the Resurrection, I looked through many exam-
ples, created in many different eras.
One example is the picture included with this
piece, “Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene
after the Resurrection,” by the Russian painter
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov.
This artist lived and painted in St Petersburg
in the 19th century.
I am moved by how the painting captures the
incredulity of Mary Magdalene.
She has fallen to her knees at the realisation
that this is Jesus. Who wouldn’t?
It’s easy to identify with her shock at seeing
someone she loved, someone whose brutal death
she had witnessed close up, suddenly appear in
renewed and vigorous form. She had seen his
lifeless, broken, bleeding body removed from
the cross.
She had come to the tomb expecting to anoint
this body. Is it any wonder she mistook him, at
Pray with art this Easter
Evoking
prayer:
Christ’s
Appearance to
Mary Magda-
lene after the
Resurrection,
by the Rus-
sian painter
Alexander
Andreyevich
Ivanov.
first, for the gardener?
Another reason I like the painting is because
the Scripture in which Mary is the first to meet
the resurrected Jesus is a favourite of mine.
This Gospel reading is a beautiful affirmation
of the respect and love that Jesus showed toward
women throughout his life and ministry.
And when Mary recognises Him as He speaks
her name, it reminds me of the personal relation-
ship Jesus desires with each of us and how He
calls us each by our name.
There are some things I don’t like about the
painting, however.
So much of the great art of Europe attempts to
portray this Middle Eastern Jewish man, Jesus,
as a classical European, and I would prefer to see
Him painted more realistically.
Also, the painting is very dark.
In my imagination, the Resurrection event
bursts upon us with unimaginable light, and
the encounter with Mary Magdalene must have
taken place at the brilliant dawn of the first
Easter.
I think it’s difficult for an artist to portray
Jesus, because each person who loves Him sees
Him in his or her own unique way. But art can
still inspire.
The Calling of St Matthew, Caravaggio’s mas-
terpiece, is one of the most inspirational portray-
als of Christ I have ever seen, and much of it is
done by the juxtaposition of light and the subtle
expressions on the faces of all in the room.
For anyone who thinks art can be difficult to
understand, remember Sister Wendy Beckett, the
Sister of Notre Dame de Namur who explained
the great masterpieces to us in her popular BBC
series.
She was simple, straightforward and made
great art accessible.
Perhaps our prayer could be more imaginative
and open this Easter if we focused on a piece
of art – painting, sculpture, poetry, music – that
moves our heart toward God and stay with it in
silence.
Effie Caldarola
is a freelance writer and a col-
umnist for Catholic News Service.
EVERYONE is “in debt” to God, who offers his
infinite love and graces for free, Pope Francis
said.
“We have received so much: our existence,
a father and a mother, friendships, the wonders
of creation,” the Pope said on April 10 during
his weekly general audience in a rain-soaked St
Peter’s Square.
“Even if difficult days happen to everyone, we
must always remember that life is a grace, it is a
miracle that God has pulled out of the blue.”
Continuing his audience talks about the Lord’s
Prayer, Pope Francis looked at how Jesus teaches
people to ask God to “forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
“Just as we need bread, we need forgiveness
every day,” he said.
With the Lord’s Prayer, he said, Christians ask
that God forgive their “being in debt,” which is
the meaning behind the use of the word “tres-
passes” in the original Greek of the Gospel.
Even “if we were perfect, even the purest of
saints who never waver from a life of good, we
are always children who owe everything to the
Father,” the Pope said.
In fact, the most dangerous thing Christians
could be were people filled with pride, deceiving
themselves that they were on par with God and
owed him nothing, he said.
While some sins were “loud” and glaringly
visible, the Pope said, pride was the worst of the
“sneaky,” less obvious sins, which “nest in the
heart” without one realising it.
Pride could be “contagious”, even infecting
those who lived an intensely religious life, he
said, and it divided people, making them believe
they were better than others.
“Before God, we are all sinners and we have
reason to beat our breast,” he said. “If we say,
‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves and
All are debtors before God’s love, forgiveness, Pope says
God loves us:
Pope Francis
hears confession
at Rome’s Ba-
silica of St. John
Lateran.
Photo: CNS
the truth is not in us.”
Everyone also is in debt, the Pope said, for the
boundless love they receive from God.
People are capable of loving because they
have been loved first and they love, not with
their own power, but “with the grace of God,”
he said.
Much like the moon reflects the sun’s light
and the Church receives and reflects Christ’s
light, he said, people who love were reflecting a
love they received in turn.
“Try listening to the story of someone who
made a mistake – a prisoner, a convict, a drug
addict,” he said, and think about the “anger and
abandonment” that may be part of their past.
“If someone has not been illuminated by
sunlight, they become frozen like the ground in
winter,” he said.
“None of us can love God as much as he has
loved us.
“We need only gaze at a crucifix to realize
how disproportionate” his love is.
CNS