GOOD SUNDAY AFFIRMATION
“Be happy in the moment, that’s enough!”
“Each moment is all we need, not more. Be happy now and if you show through your actions that you love others, including those who are poorer than you, you’ll give them happiness, too. It doesn’t take much — it can be just giving a smile.
The world would be a much better place if everyone smiled more. So smile, be cheerful, be joyous that God loves you.”
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Vase of Flowers by Henri Matisse
Maman, Happy Celestial Birthday
GOOD SUNDAY AFFIRMATION
O DENYSE
AS EACH MORNING RISES
I ENJOY YOUR FAVORITE JAVA, LIKE YOU
SAVORING EACH MOMENT OF EARTHLY LIFE, AS YOU DID
TRYING TO BEING MY BEST SELF, LIKE YOU
FOR WHATEVER COMES MY WAY, AS YOU DID
CHERISHING MY ROOTS, LIKE YOU
WITH SUCH REGAL JOY, BOUNDLESS FAITH!
…your Zaza thanks you for paving the way to follow…
Opium Poppies Painting by Simon Verelst
(these flowers used to hang in my parents’ foyer)
GOOD SUNDAY AFFIRMATION
When my dear Maman spoke
“Tis best to be in the middle”
saying
“You can help raise someone up with your left hand and with your right hand, someone above you can pull you up, so just stay in the middle.”
So would she tell me, “either way, it’s good to be in the middle.”
…her wisdom stays with me…
*
“Man is in the middle between God and nothingness.”
by Saint John Paul II
…these Opium Poppies now adorn my writing corner with delight…
GOOD SUNDAY AFFIRMATION
“Creation is of the order of love.
God’s love is the
fundamental moving force
in all created things.”
Pope Francis
The Virgin of Guadalupe (1959) by Salvador Dali
GOOD SUNDAY AFFIRMATION
Mary’s love is what led Salvador Dali to create this awesome rendition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Known for his eccentric Surrealist art style, Dali experienced a 10-year conversion away from Freudian expression to faith found in Italian classical art. He wrote that “nothing worse can happen to an ex-Surrealist than to become a mystic and know how to draw.”
Exceptional is this privately owned masterpiece to reflect Dali’s gift to mesh the Old World with the New and bridge his faith to our contemporary age for future believers.
*
Star of Evangelization
I am All Yours, My Queen
My Mother, And All That
I Have Is Yours
Memory of the Garden at Etten by Vincent van Gogh (1888)
GOOD SUNDAY AFFIRMATION
“We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about work:
its meaning.”
Pope Francis
Journey of the Magi by James Tissot
GOOD SUNDAY AFFIRMATION
The Epiphany of the Lord
From living frivolous in Paris then in London to finding the sacred in Palestine, French Realist painter James Tissot found Truth in the desert. A far cry from painting fashion models in Vanity Fair magazine, he lived with a divorcee until her death from tuberculosis which crushed his spirit, then returned to Paris with grief veering him back to faith.
Tissot painted this ‘Journey of the Magi’ in 1894 after three visits to the Holy Land. Rare is his imagination of the three kings coming from different lands and converging together at one point; thus the Magi are in frontal position, with the star behind them as they approach Bethlehem. Remarkable are Casper (on the left) from India; Melchior (in the middle) from Persia and Balthasar (on the right) from Arabia. These were righteous wise men from their respective countries seeking truth. Such was their amazing arrival!
Today as we pause to honor the Magi, aren’t we like them? Crisscrossing the paths of life to understand ourselves; to find our own truth and purpose. Their gifts of Myrrh, Frankincense and gold are our gifts as well, to receive the anointed oil, perfume fragrance and gold of God’s kingship waiting for us at the end of life.
May we behold the glory of God at this Epiphany of Christ.
