June MAGNIFICAT THE COVER OF THE MONTH “Do you not care that we are perishing?” by Pierre-Marie Dumont From Nero and Diocletian, through the barbarians, the scandals of the Renaissance, the French …More
June MAGNIFICAT
THE COVER OF THE MONTH
“Do you not care that we are perishing?” by Pierre-Marie Dumont
From Nero and Diocletian, through the barbarians, the scandals of the Renaissance, the French Revolution, Communism and Nazism, how many times throughout history has the cry not rung out, “The Church is foundering! The Church is about to sink without trace!”? And each time, in the end the Lord has risen up to command the roaring waves to be calm. And they have obeyed. In our day, the Church seems once again on the verge of perishing, first of all, alas, because of scandals within, while her external enemies, not idle, are already rejoicing at her imminent demise.
In our miniature, painted a thousand years ago, we see one Apostle grasp Jesus’ shoulder by the hand and give him a vigorous shake to wake him up. And, just as Saint John Paul II rightly said, “We are all co-responsible for the Church,” this hand seeks to awaken us as well, inviting us not only to add the cry of the prayer of the faithful to its action, but also to oppose the unleashing of the forces of evil with the holiness of our lives.
Christ Calming the Storm, miniature from the Gospels of the Abbess Hitda of Meschede, c. 1040, Cod. 1640, fol. 117 r°, Master of Hitda’s Gospel Book, Hessische Landesbibliothek, Darmstadt, Germany.
Magnificat The cover of the month
THE COVER OF THE MONTH
“Do you not care that we are perishing?” by Pierre-Marie Dumont
From Nero and Diocletian, through the barbarians, the scandals of the Renaissance, the French Revolution, Communism and Nazism, how many times throughout history has the cry not rung out, “The Church is foundering! The Church is about to sink without trace!”? And each time, in the end the Lord has risen up to command the roaring waves to be calm. And they have obeyed. In our day, the Church seems once again on the verge of perishing, first of all, alas, because of scandals within, while her external enemies, not idle, are already rejoicing at her imminent demise.
In our miniature, painted a thousand years ago, we see one Apostle grasp Jesus’ shoulder by the hand and give him a vigorous shake to wake him up. And, just as Saint John Paul II rightly said, “We are all co-responsible for the Church,” this hand seeks to awaken us as well, inviting us not only to add the cry of the prayer of the faithful to its action, but also to oppose the unleashing of the forces of evil with the holiness of our lives.
Christ Calming the Storm, miniature from the Gospels of the Abbess Hitda of Meschede, c. 1040, Cod. 1640, fol. 117 r°, Master of Hitda’s Gospel Book, Hessische Landesbibliothek, Darmstadt, Germany.
Magnificat The cover of the month