#st-mary-magdalene — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 7 April: Jessica Powers

Grace guards that moment when the spirit halts
to watch the Magdalen
in the mad turbulence that was her love.
Light hallows those who think about her when
she broke through crowds to the Master’s feet
or ran on Easter morning,
her hair wind-tumbled and her cloak awry.
What to her need were the restrictions of
earth’s vain formalities?
She sought, as love so often seeks and finds,
a Radiance that died or seemed to die.

One can surmise she went to Calvary
distraught and weeping, and with loud lament
clung to the cross and beat upon its wood
till Christ’s torn veins spread a soft covering
over her hair and face and colored gown.
She took her First Communion in His Blood.

O the Tumultuous Magdalen! But those
who come upon her in the hush of love
claim the last graces. A wild parakeet
ceded its being to a mourning dove,
as Bethany had prophesied. We give
to Old Provence that solitude’s location
where her love brooded, too contemplative
to lift the brief distraction of a wing.
There she became a living consecration
to one remembering.
Magdalen, first to drink the fountained Christ
Whose crimson-signing stills our creature stir,
is the Blood’s mystic. Was it not the weight
of the warm Blood that slowed and silenced her?

Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D. (Jessica Powers)

The Blood’s Mystic (1950)

Powers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, Siegfried, R & Morneau, RF (eds.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: AI-generated image (Midjourney), Mary Magdalene Runs to the Tomb at Dawn, created in an impressionist style inspired by Richard Miller (educational use).

@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social

Here's St Catherine, second from left in a Gerard David painting from around 1510 in London's National Gallery. The two figures to the right of the Virgin and Child are St Barbara and St Mary Magdalene. The man on the left is the donor.

The Christ Child is putting a ring on St Catherine's finger to represent their Mystic Marriage.

There's so much more to this picture, but I'll confine myself to saying I love it.

#Art #GerardDavid #Painting #VirginAndChildWithSaintsAndDonor #StCatherine #StMaryTheVirgin #StBarbara #StMaryMagdalene #ChristChild #EarlyNetherlandish #NorthernRenaissance

@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social

Here's St Catherine, second from left in a Gerard David painting from around 1510 in London's National Gallery. The two figures to the right of the Virgin and Child are St Barbara and St Mary Magdalene. The man on the left is the donor.

The Christ Child is putting a ring on St Catherine's finger to represent their Mystic Marriage.

There's so much more to this picture, but I'll confine myself to saying I love it.

#Art #GerardDavid #Painting #VirginAndChildWithSaintsAndDonor #StCatherine #StMaryTheVirgin #StBarbara #StMaryMagdalene #ChristChild #EarlyNetherlandish #NorthernRenaissance

@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social

Here's St Catherine, second from left in a Gerard David painting from around 1510 in London's National Gallery. The two figures to the right of the Virgin and Child are St Barbara and St Mary Magdalene. The man on the left is the donor.

The Christ Child is putting a ring on St Catherine's finger to represent their Mystic Marriage.

There's so much more to this picture, but I'll confine myself to saying I love it.

#Art #GerardDavid #Painting #VirginAndChildWithSaintsAndDonor #StCatherine #StMaryTheVirgin #StBarbara #StMaryMagdalene #ChristChild #EarlyNetherlandish #NorthernRenaissance

@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social

Here's St Catherine, second from left in a Gerard David painting from around 1510 in London's National Gallery. The two figures to the right of the Virgin and Child are St Barbara and St Mary Magdalene. The man on the left is the donor.

The Christ Child is putting a ring on St Catherine's finger to represent their Mystic Marriage.

There's so much more to this picture, but I'll confine myself to saying I love it.

#Art #GerardDavid #Painting #VirginAndChildWithSaintsAndDonor #StCatherine #StMaryTheVirgin #StBarbara #StMaryMagdalene #ChristChild #EarlyNetherlandish #NorthernRenaissance

@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social

Here's St Catherine, second from left in a Gerard David painting from around 1510 in London's National Gallery. The two figures to the right of the Virgin and Child are St Barbara and St Mary Magdalene. The man on the left is the donor.

The Christ Child is putting a ring on St Catherine's finger to represent their Mystic Marriage.

There's so much more to this picture, but I'll confine myself to saying I love it.

#Art #GerardDavid #Painting #VirginAndChildWithSaintsAndDonor #StCatherine #StMaryTheVirgin #StBarbara #StMaryMagdalene #ChristChild #EarlyNetherlandish #NorthernRenaissance

Quote of the day, 26 January: St. Thérèse

Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me within Carmel’s cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all….

O my Jesus! what is your answer to all my follies? Is there a soul more little, more powerless than mine? Nevertheless even because of my weakness, it has pleased You, O Lord, to grant my little childish desires and You desire, today, to grant other desires that are greater than the universe.

During my meditation, my desires caused me a veritable martyrdom, and I opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find some kind of answer. Chapters 12 and 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians fell under my eyes. I read there, in the first of these chapters, that all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, etc., that the Church is composed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time [1 Cor 12:29, 21].

The answer was clear, but it did not fulfill my desires and gave me no peace. But just as Mary Magdalene found what she was seeking by always stooping down and looking into the empty tomb, so I, abasing myself to the very depths of my nothingness, raised myself so high that I was able to attain my end [cf. St. John of the Cross, Poetry 6]. Without becoming discouraged, I continued my reading, and this sentence consoled me: “Yet strive after THE BETTER GIFTS, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way” [1 Cor 12:31, 13:1]. And the Apostle explains how all the most PERFECT gifts are nothing without LOVE. That Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Manuscript B, 3r–3v

Thérèse & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Thomas Hawk captured this graffiti mural on concrete in San Francisco on 17 December 2008. Featuring a well-known quote by the Servant of God Dorothy Day—“Love is the only solution”—this mural illustrates the life-changing discovery of St. Thérèse: Charity is the excellent way that leads most surely to God. Image credit: Thomas Hawk / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#charity #gifts #humility #little #love #MysticalBody #StMaryMagdalene #StThérèseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 26 January: St. Thérèse

Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me within Carmel’s cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all….

O my Jesus! what is your answer to all my follies? Is there a soul more little, more powerless than mine? Nevertheless even because of my weakness, it has pleased You, O Lord, to grant my little childish desires and You desire, today, to grant other desires that are greater than the universe.

During my meditation, my desires caused me a veritable martyrdom, and I opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find some kind of answer. Chapters 12 and 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians fell under my eyes. I read there, in the first of these chapters, that all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, etc., that the Church is composed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time [1 Cor 12:29, 21].

The answer was clear, but it did not fulfill my desires and gave me no peace. But just as Mary Magdalene found what she was seeking by always stooping down and looking into the empty tomb, so I, abasing myself to the very depths of my nothingness, raised myself so high that I was able to attain my end [cf. St. John of the Cross, Poetry 6]. Without becoming discouraged, I continued my reading, and this sentence consoled me: “Yet strive after THE BETTER GIFTS, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way” [1 Cor 12:31, 13:1]. And the Apostle explains how all the most PERFECT gifts are nothing without LOVE. That Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Manuscript B, 3r–3v

Thérèse & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Thomas Hawk captured this graffiti mural on concrete in San Francisco on 17 December 2008. Featuring a well-known quote by the Servant of God Dorothy Day—“Love is the only solution”—this mural illustrates the life-changing discovery of St. Thérèse: Charity is the excellent way that leads most surely to God. Image credit: Thomas Hawk / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#charity #gifts #humility #little #love #MysticalBody #StMaryMagdalene #StThérèseOfLisieux

While I was on earth, I took her for my friend; but now that I am in heaven, I have chosen you.

Diego de Yepes
Biography of St. Teresa (1615)

On the feast of St. Mary Magdalene the Lord again confirmed in me a favor He had granted me in Toledo, choosing me in the place of a certain person who was absent.

Spiritual Testimonies, 28
Monastery of the Incarnation, Avila, 22 July 1572

On the feast of St. Mary Magdalene while I was reflecting on the friendship with our Lord I’m obliged to maintain and also on the words He spoke to me about this saint [cf. Spiritual Testimonies, 28,] and having insistent desires to imitate her, the Lord granted me a great favor and told me that from now on I should try hard, that I was going to have to serve Him more than I did up to this point. This favor gave me the desire not to die so soon, that I might have time to be occupied in His service, and I was left with strong determination to suffer.

Spiritual Testimonies, 37
22 July (year and place uncertain)

Note: Translator and editor Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. explains that Spiritual Testimonies, 28 is a probable reference to an event reported by Diego de Yepes in his life of St. Teresa (1615, Madrid). Fr. Kavanaugh writes: “One day in Toledo, Teresa was envying St. Mary Magdalene for the love our Lord had for her. The Lord then appeared to Teresa and said: ‘While I was on earth, I took her for my friend; but now that I am in heaven, I have chosen you.’ “

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1835 by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (Russian, 1806–1858). It is part of the Russian Museum’s collection of 18th–19th c. paintings. Image credit: Russian Museum via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/21/stj-testims28-37/

#Avila #chosen #FeastDay #FrKieranKavanaughOCD #God #JesusChrist #love #mysticalExperience #StMaryMagdalene #StTeresaOfAvila #ToledoSpain

Here is a very Magdalen of bird
weeping her music at the feet of day,
who in a moment more will be interred
and in his shroud of silver laid away.

This is the bird that lately had anointed
the radiant flesh with the cool oil of song.
These feet are still; the night is three days long.

Henceforth the story of this bird will live
enclosed forever in day’s narrative.
This shall be told of her
wherever any poet is appointed
as day’s biographer.

Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D.
(Jessica Powers)

Bird at Evening (1939)

Powers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Adrianna Calvo from Málaga, Spain captured this colorful image of birds flying at dusk. Image credit: StockSnap (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/04/01/jess-evebird/

#bird #Easter #evening #JessicaPowers #poetry #SrMiriamOfTheHolySpirit #StMaryMagdalene

At the holy sepulchre, Mary Magdalene,
Searching for her Jesus, stooped down in tears.
The angels wanted to console her sorrow,
But nothing could calm her grief.
Bright angels, it was not you
Whom this fervent soul came searching for.
She wanted to see the Lord of the Angels,
To take him in her arms, to carry him far away.

Close by the tomb, the last one to stay,
She had come well before dawn.
Her God also came, veiling his light.
Mary could not vanquish him in love!
Showing her at first his Blessed Face,
Soon just one word sprang from his Heart.
Whispering the sweet name of Mary,
Jesus gave back her peace, her happiness.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

PN 23, To the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1895), stanzas 1–3

The dominant figure in American decorative arts for more than half a century, Louis Comfort Tiffany founded several firms to satisfy the strong demand for his art glass, metalwork, pottery and furniture. Tiffany’s enthusiasm for sensuous materials and striking colors found full expression in his stained-glass windows. From 1877 through the 1920s, he and his craftsmen produced thousands of windows for churches, institutions and homes across the United States.

Upon the death of her husband in 1901, the widow of United States president Benjamin Harrison commissioned Tiffany to create a window in his memory. The window, the lower half of which appears here, was installed in 1905 at the First Presbyterian Church, 16th and Delaware Streets, Indianapolis, where the president had served as an elder for more than 40 years. Absorbed in scores of projects, Tiffany probably left the window’s conception to his team of talented designers, contributing his own thought before giving final approval. The design shows Michael, the Angel of the Resurrection, signaling the dead to rise at Christ’s second coming. In keeping with the romanticism of the time, Tiffany’s heroic angel is dressed in the chain mail suit of a crusading knight and seems like a figure from Sir Walter Scott’s novels…

Thérèse of Lisieux, S 1995, The Poetry of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, translated from the French by Kinney, D, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/03/31/tej-pn23/

#AngelOfTheResurrection #FrederickWilson #light #resurrection #risenChrist #sorrow #StMaryMagdalene #stainedGlass #TiffanyStudios #tomb