Heaven and Earth, Art of Byzantium at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, until March 2, 2014
Since the observance of Advent season is rather new for me, I still need to spend time reflecting on the wisdom of following the seasons of the Liturgical Church Calendar. In our modern time when we feel we have all the advantages of technology, don’t we all tend to think we have advanced right passed the need for all these traditions into some sort of high powered, multi-tasking, version of celebrating the birth of our Lord? Why must we wait, each year, on the birth of our Lord? Why must we “pretend” the event has not happened yet? Why should we delay our celebrations? What could possibly be of benefit in all this Advent tradition?
So as I was thinking about all this, and thinking about how God keeps unfolding my understanding of Christ little by little each year, I thought about how Jesus is growing inside of each of us so that he can be born into the world to a greater degree. As each Christmas passes, and as I take time to ponder the wonder and mysteries of the Virgin birth, the light of God grows stronger inside of me. Like the glow of the golden icon above, the wisdom of his love for us is “Illuminating” my heart with an inner warmth that grows ever brighter. I realize that God wants us to desire him.
To highlight this point today, I wanted to share with you a couple of readings and also recommend to you the exhibition that is happening at the National Gallery this month and on thru February. These writers and artists of the past, are giants in taking time to seek our Savoir. They understand that before a seed can grow, there must first be the proper gestation period. We must all spend time nurturing our love of God because ultimately we know that:
“Unto Us a Child is Born!”
Enjoy the following readings:
“If God wants you to know Him in a truer way, He will create the circumstances that drive you to seek Him more deeply. He creates the path. And then He is the light of understanding that shines within you….And as I have told you, He wants us to live with hope and expectancy, believing He is going to reveal himself to us more and more. For God wants to be seen. And He wants us to seek. And He moves closer to us when we are expectant of His coming.”
Julian of Norwich, Rekindling the Inner Fire Series, David Hazard
“….Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened…..He said to them, “Why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds?”
“Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”
Luke 24: 36-38, 45
Our Father, have mercy on us and teach us the wisdom of your ways. Show us how to eagerly seek you so that you will open our eyes to the great riches of your kingdom and so that we may know with our inner eyes of faith your words…peace be with you.
May you be a blessing to others this week.
P.S. My eyes have just now been opened to how the partial view of the Icon above is a rather poetic representation of how we only partially understand God’s ways at any one time:)) Lovely exhibition, I hope you will take the time to have a look if you are in the Washington DC area.
God Thru the Arts 