Feast of the Holy Innocents

The Holy Family flees to Egypt while
Angels carry the souls of the innocent
up to heaven.

Today we celebrate the sainthood of the church's youngest martyrs. Hearing of the newborn king Jesus, King Herod was afraid that this infant would be a threat to his sovereignty. Not wanting to risk that, he had all baby boys under the age of 2 murdered. Because these innocent children died for Christ, they are considered to have received a baptism of blood.
In the Catholic church, there are three 'kinds' of baptism.
1. Regular baptism by water. Performed by a priest or a layman, this baptism is the familiar ritual of pouring water (just water. Not milk, or tears, or juice) over the head of the person and saying "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
2. Baptism by desire. This is if somebody wants baptism, but for whatever reason cannot get it before they die. Maybe it's a deathbed conversion and a priest can't make it on time, or you were on your way to your baptism ceremony and were killed.
3. Baptism by blood is where an unbaptized person is killed as a martyr for Jesus Christ. This is the kind of baptism that the Holy Innocents received.
On the day of this tragedy, we not only remember the babies murdered by King Herod, we also remember all young children who never got a chance at life.
Keep in your prayers today young children killed in accidents or through disease, babies killed through abortion, miscarriages, and for all children.

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

St. Nicholas, wonder-worker and patron saint of pretty much everything, Ora Pro Nobis!

Happy Fathers Day!

Saint Joseph, ora pro nobis!

 

 

Happy Mothers Day!

God Bless you all. :)

 

Something for Sunday

For the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, we watched a short little documentary about the life of Mary (anybody else watch Footprints of God? No? Just us? Okay.), and they showed a lot of religious art and there was one painting that really caught my eye.

The Virgin of the Grapes by Pierre Mignard (1640-50)

This lovely painting struck me as different because of the very relaxed atmosphere. Now, a lot of Madonna and Child Jesus paintings are of the more solemn nature. Very majestic, and something more than just a 'snapshot'. Icons are a style of panting where many layers are shown. Like this icon of the Resurrection, for example.

There's a lot going on here, it's quite beautiful and detailed.
For starters, in the middle is Jesus, newly risen from the dead on Easter Morning. Then surrounding him are Prophets, and you can also see St. John the Baptist to the right of Jesus. The two people that Jesus is raising out of the tombs are Adam and Eve, and that symbolizes that the gates of Heaven have opened and the souls of the faithful departed can now enter. And now on the bottom, under Jesus' feet lies an old man in shackles. It's been a while since the icon was explained to me, but I recall that that man is death, and it represents that by dying on the Cross, Jesus has trampled death and granted eternal life to those in the tomb, and us.

Now, the painting above, the Virgin of the Grapes is a much simpler kind of painting. Mary and the Child Jesus are sitting down and seem to be enjoying some Grapes. The Child Jesus is playfully peeking out from under His Mother's veil, and Mary looks on tenderly. It's a style of Religious Art that you don't see too often, and there's certainly room for both this and the more solemn variety.

Stay Frosty, my friends, and have a lovely Sunday. :)