My Childhood Icon

 See this statue of George Washington.  How many times did I pass this statue, when I was a child?  It was on Lawrence Street, in my home town of Methuen, MA.  Lawrence Street is one of the main streets, in town.  I also went to Junior High right across the street, from the statue.  I must have stared at it hundreds of times.  Finally, I went to high school at Presentation of Mary Academy, just down the street from the statue.  Oh how I wished the gates and iron fence, surrounding the area around the statue,  weren't there.  Maybe then I could have cut across and taken a shortcut to school.  

Sometime, when I was in Junior High, I think, a school was being build there.  The church I went to was building a parochial school.  Then the statue was gone.

I always thought it was because it was in the way of the building.  Progress--and all. 

Now I read in The Pilot, the history of the statue.  It was moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.  The next time I visit my relatives in California, I going to see my childhood icon.

Look Up

 

Today, the pandemic is people's worst nightmare.  I was reading about St. Vincent Ferrer.  His times not only had a pandemic but also a papal schism--there were two popes at the same time.  Think of it.  Not only were the people physically sick, but also spiritually.  What would you think?

I think the people had every right to complain to God, but they didn't because they weren't praying.  They were so consumed with their personal problems that they forgot about praying to God.  Since they forgot about God, so did their behavior.  The people were living in sin.

When this happened to Moses in the desert, Numbers 21: 4-9, God healed the people by having Moses make statues of snakes and hold them up on a pole.  When the people looked up they were healed and thanked God.

St. Vincent Ferrer had the people look up at Jesus on the cross and they were healed.

It wasn't the snake statues, nor the presence of a Dominican preacher that healed the people.  It was their belief that God could heal them.  People will die in their sins if they reject God because they are rejecting the only way to be rescued from sin.  So look up to Jesus on the cross.  Look what He did for you.

Beware!

 

No this isn't a statue from the book of Revelation.  It's the statue in the visitor's plaza of the United Nations Building, in New York.  It was made by Mexican artists, Jacobo and Maria Angeles and donated by the Government of Oaxaca, Mexico.  It represents the United Nations as a guardian for international peace and security. The Aztecs used similar representations in their art--the combination of a jaguar and an eagle.  

I can see the protection and security, but not international peace.  Where's the cancel culture when you need them?  Here's one statue that should be torn down.

Statue of St. Therese of Lisieux

See this picture of St. Therese of Lisieux.  I'm having a terrible time finding a close up.  This is for the next lesson in my grandchildren's faith formation--the statues outside the church.  

In front of the rectory is a statue is Mary.

This is distinct, compared to Therese.  And on the other side of the church is one more statue. This is St. Rocco.  My parish, for many years held a St. Rocco's festival, so he has a special place in the parish's heart. 

Out of all 3 statues, St. Therese of Lisieux is the smallest.  I guess I can find a better one by googling.

Once again, I'm spending way too much time on my lesson plans.  

 

A Cloistered Brother on Tearing Down Statues

 

                                        If this image is subject to copyright, tell me and I will delete it immediately.                                                

Friday, June 19, 2020 11:32 AM                   Monuments and Statues

  As we see more and more unrest today here in the, Not so United States, partly because of another murder by law enforcement officers who shot a man twice in the back and then put their foot on him just in case he jumped up, we continue to pray for a peaceful resolution. The anger now has moved to many more issues the African Americans feel should be addressed and during a conversation I somehow found myself in the middle of the Monuments and Statues debate. It started off with the Christopher Columbus Statue in the North End of Boston which is predominantly an Italian neighborhood.  One person was defending the right to have it there and the other person a Native American felt that Columbus was no good and committed many crimes against his people, (that's putting it politely) when asked my opinion I said I couldn't really speak on the issue because I know only a little about him but I did hear he did cause pain and suffering for the Natives..... Then the issue came up about some 1600 Statues/Monuments that the African Americans say are very offensive and think they should come down because of their connection to slavery. People have been defacing all types of the different Monuments all over the country and further a field as they feel these men glorify the slave trade.

 This conversation can get very ugly, very quickly. What I said next left some people with their mouths wide open as I explained why there was so many Irish people all over the world.....42 million Americans claim Irish ancestry (some landing here as slaves as early as the 1600's ). Then we have all the Irish going to Australia on the Prison/Slave /Coffin Ships, and there are many other countries you'll find people of Irish descendent. Many didn't go willingly. One of the worst events to take place in Ireland was during the attempted Ethnic Cleansing of the Irish Catholics during the time of Cromwell, the Hitler of the day if you were Irish Catholic. A little known fact that I wasn't aware of until a few years ago was some 50,000 Irish men women and children who were shipped off to Barbados as slaves, crammed into Slave Ships just the same as the Africans and indeed on some of the very same ships. Many were poor, many were in prisons and others just disappeared from the highways and byways of the island of Ireland. They got the nickname "red legs" because of the redness of their skin from the scorching sun, men from the African tribe know as the Mandingo were strong and known to be fierce warriors were forced to rape the Irish women and girls to produce a hybrid worker, to learn about these things was like learning about what happened to the slaves from the continent of Africa no difference in this case....the whole nine yards, stacked on top of each other chained, shackled etc. I thought to myself about who these poor souls were? Where they related to me? What happened to their loved ones? How did they cope with the loss of a son, daughter , father, mother, aunt ,uncle, friend,? One day they never came home....this is just the Barbados episode because there was a lot more that would make your stomach turn, and if you were a Priest or an Nun you can forget about it. So, fair to say the Irish have had their fare share of slavery, discrimination, ethnic cleansing, war and so on.....not sure if they were ready for my answer about the topic at hand so I put it like this , I wouldn't want a statue of Cromwell any where in my country, I wouldn't want a statue of the men who captained the ships of human beings and were paid by the head, or were filling orders for Irish women to be sent to Barbados on their next trip to service the men, the younger the better for the brothels.....no I don't want a Statue of queen Victoria a few miles down the street from a mass famine grave just to give a couple of examples, so you can draw your own conclusion to what I think about the current climate regarding these men who are remembered with monuments and statues.

Who are all these people?  Wel,l I can't say who they all are but I do know that anyone who bought and sold human beings, or knowingly took part in shipping human beings shouldn't be celebrated.... I do know that some of these men went on to do wonderful things for the United States and its citizens..... Foundations were founded, scholarships were made, charities have been going to this day with some of these men's names attached and so on, so the question remains , where do we draw the line? What about forgiveness?? Will taking these Monuments down help heal this fractured country?? And of course people will say " its part of our history man " yep that's true, maybe we can open more museums where people can go if they choose?? I can only speak from my own heart and how I feel that it helps nobody to have Statues in someone's face to remind them of a painful past, it really doesn't. Should we put it to a vote to those who find it hurtful to see these things they feel need to go in order to move forward?? The thing is this if we don't stop and take stock of who we really are and what is really needed to live in harmony, we are only going to keep heading down a dark hole until none of us can see each other at all.

Forgiveness comprises, love and understanding.   It’s all part of this jigsaw, can we do it, of course we can, it won't be easy but it doesn't have to get any harder if we choose light over dark, love over hate, forgiveness over bitterness..... Ireland is a lot older that this country and God knows we were fighting for many, many years..... hopefully it won't take as long here to find some peace! There's always a smart ass who needs to put his two cents in the mix, this one asked me, what's next are we going to pull down Auschwitz Concentration Camp where all the Jews were murdered?, all I could say to that was no, because Jewish people never want the world to forget, and you won't find a Statue of Hitler in their town. One last thing that comes to mind tonight before I lock in, all over the world people sing Amazing Grace, I've been singing it for years in three different Prison choirs, the Police play in on the bagpipes when they lose one of their brothers or sisters on the force, as do our Firefighters, Military Members, Ordinary Folk, Black Life Matters Members, Civil Rights Groups etc., etc...its probably used almost as much as we use Happy Birthday, I never knew until about 18yrs ago that the man who wrote it was a Slave Ship Captain who was Shipwrecked I think off the coast of Ireland ....he never took part in the slave trade after that;  hence the song, I don't have the Google thing but if my mind serves me right his name was Newman....probably an English Ship.....just food for thought..... Thinking of you all tonight and praying for all of you.  In the end it’s all about love and hopefully Peace!!

 Thank you all for being in my life,  (Jazzer). 06-17-20. 9:30pm (US)

Why Catholics in Scotland want a Statue for a Martyred Priest

Mosaic of the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie in St Aloysius Church in Glasgow. Photo credit: Lawrence OP via Flickr CC BY NC ND 20 CNA

Why Catholics in Scotland want a statue for a martyred priest: Glasgow, Scotland, Mar 23, 2017 CNA/EWTN News.- Four centuries after the martyrdom of St. John Ogilvie, Catholics in Scotland have launched a campaign to mark the place in Glasgow’s city center where he was executed.

Definitely, needed.  John Ogilvie is the only martyr Scotland has.  Click on the link to read the story.

Flowers for Mary

The first thing the pope did when he returned home to Rome, from the United States was not crash into bed.  He brought flowers to the statue of Mary in a church in Rome.  This must be his favorite statue and favorite church.  It reminded me of Han.  Han is a Vietnamese/American.  She has a story.

Han is one of the Vietnamese boat people.  These people were prey to pirates.  Many of them were robbed and killed, if not just starved to death because no one would pick them up.  Father Anthony Le tells us that if a boat picked you up, then they were responsible for you.  So many boats passed them by.  Father Le was picked up by a Norwegian boat.  Han's story focuses on divine intervention.

Han's grandmother told her to keep praying to Mary, ask her to protect you.  On Han's boat, every single female was raped, except Han.  And Han was a teenager.  It was like she was invisible.

Ever since then, Han constantly thanks our Blessed Mother, particularly in the image of Our Lady of Hope, a/k/a  Our Lady of Pontmain.  This image was prevalent in Vietnam.  There is a traveling statue of Our Lady of Pontmain, which Han manages to procure every once in awhile.  This picture is the statue with Han (on left).

Also, Han brings Our Lady a bouquet of fresh flowers every single week--just like the pope.

Lucky Toes

John Harvard

Coming from Mass this morning, the lady leaving in front of me, stopped.  She touched the feet of the statue of St. Anthony and I could tell she was praying.

Because I'm me, I immediately thought of the Boston tradition of touching the toe of John Harvard.  Tourists often have their picture taken with the statue.  It's a tradition that if you rub the toe of the statue, you'll have good luck.

St. Anthony of Padua 

We Catholics call "luck", "blessings."  So I imagine devotees of St. Anthony touch his feet to ask for a blessing.

The difference between the two is that the people who rub John Harvard's foot are carrying on a time honored tradition that doesn't really mean anything.  People who touch the toe of a saint are praying.  They are combining a mental prayer with a tactile touch.  The hitting upon two senses help to deepen the prayer.  It's a spiritual aid.  Looking at a picture will deepen your thoughts.  Holding rosary beads not only helps to count, but also to focus.  Hence, the object (the statue) of the toe touch not only makes the difference, but the intention of the touch.

Bostonians also know another difference.  It is also a time honored tradition, for students to urinate on John Harvard's toe, at night.  Tourists touch and rub the toe during the day, and students pee on it, during the night.

These were my thoughts, leaving Mass, on a Sunday morning.

St. Anthony pray for me.

Where are Mary's Shoes?

Yesterday, my three year old granddaughter was playing with all the interesting little  things on my dresser.  I  asked her if she knew who the statue was of.  She answered, "Baby Jesus."  Well, she was half right.  We were looking at a statue of Mary holding Jesus.  I explained that His Mother Mary was holding the Baby Jesus.

She examined the statue more closely.  Then she asked, "Where are Mary's shoes?"  I never noticed that Mary was barefoot before, and I didn't know.  I admitted I didn't know, and we went on to other interesting things, like spraying perfume all over everything, and opening my jewelry box.  But ever since that simple question, I've been wondering why doesn't Mary wear shoes.

I've seen statues where she does.  They did wear shoes in her time.  Remember Yahweh told Moses to take his shoes off.  Exodus 3:5

So if it were the custom to wear shoes, probably sandals in her part of the world, why is she barefoot?  She definitely was poor.  She married a carpenter.  When she and Joseph took Jesus to be circumcised, they paid the price that the poor paid.  (Lev 12:6)  But the poor wore simple sandals.

I think it's just pure, simple, artistic interpretation.  It's the sculptor's prerogative to decide the footwear.  Definitely, in the statues where Mary is stepping on the serpent we need to see her heel crushing the serpent.  Otherwise, I think the bare feet was just to show Mary's poverty and humility.  That's why the Discalced Carmelites and Primitive Franciscans go barefoot.

Do you think a three year old would understand poverty and humility?

Maybe, I should just tell her that Mary is more comfortable barefoot.  After all, my granddaughter is always taking off her shoes.  

Backyard Shrines

Ha!  I'm laughing because I just read Dr. Taylor Marshall's post on how he made a back yard shrine.  It's very nice and reminds me of the wayside shrines in Switzerland.  I wish I could.  I'd make one for my meditation garden.  Unfortunately, my family thinks they're very tacky and are horrified to think that I'd put Mary in a bathtub on our front lawn.

But the reason for my mirth, is that I was reminded of the time of how I tricked hubby into getting rid of an unsightly eye sore of a rotting tree trunk.  Hubby cut down a rotten tree in the front of our house.  The stump remained--for too long.  It was very unsightly and a source of irritation, everytime my eyes saw it.

One day I announced at the dinner table, "Don't you think that tree stump in the front yard, is the perfect spot for a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe?"  I still smugly smile at the look on the family's face.

The next weekend the stump was burnt down to the ground.  And new grass planted.