Our lord Jesus Christ the eternal high priest Reflection on the Prayer Card Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, which we now celebrate annually on the first …More
Our lord Jesus Christ the eternal high priest
Reflection on the Prayer Card
Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, which we now celebrate annually on the first Thursday after Pentecost. It is a day where we focus on Jesus’ priestly office and where we pray especially for our clergy and priests to be more Christ like. The Devil’s own words to Saint John Vianney (patron saint of priests) were ‘If there were three such priests as you, my kingdom would be ruined’! As lay people, we need holy priests who are true shepherds, willing to lay down their lives for their flock, so we must pray for them without ceasing.
We are looking at a lovely prayer card depicting Christ in red vestments. Red vestments are traditionally used by our priests on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Pentecost Sunday, celebrations of the Lord’s passion, ‘birthday’ feasts of the apostles and evangelists, and celebrations of martyrs; red mainly reflecting the suffering of the Lord. I briefly want to reflect on these prayers cards which so many of us have in our wallets, bibles, books etc.... In our Christian tradition, these small, playing card-sized, mass produced devotional pictures are important. With the reverse usually containing a prayer, the image is what draws us in first. The invention of the technique of lithography, around 1800, made it possible to reproduce coloured images cheaply, which enabled a much broader circulation of these cards to the faithful. Like the present card, the colours are usually of pastel or soft tones, and eye catching. The image draws us in, but ultimately this imagery is always at the service of the text/prayer on the reverse.
Reflection on the Prayer Card
Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, which we now celebrate annually on the first Thursday after Pentecost. It is a day where we focus on Jesus’ priestly office and where we pray especially for our clergy and priests to be more Christ like. The Devil’s own words to Saint John Vianney (patron saint of priests) were ‘If there were three such priests as you, my kingdom would be ruined’! As lay people, we need holy priests who are true shepherds, willing to lay down their lives for their flock, so we must pray for them without ceasing.
We are looking at a lovely prayer card depicting Christ in red vestments. Red vestments are traditionally used by our priests on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Pentecost Sunday, celebrations of the Lord’s passion, ‘birthday’ feasts of the apostles and evangelists, and celebrations of martyrs; red mainly reflecting the suffering of the Lord. I briefly want to reflect on these prayers cards which so many of us have in our wallets, bibles, books etc.... In our Christian tradition, these small, playing card-sized, mass produced devotional pictures are important. With the reverse usually containing a prayer, the image is what draws us in first. The invention of the technique of lithography, around 1800, made it possible to reproduce coloured images cheaply, which enabled a much broader circulation of these cards to the faithful. Like the present card, the colours are usually of pastel or soft tones, and eye catching. The image draws us in, but ultimately this imagery is always at the service of the text/prayer on the reverse.
