Sometimes Truth Comes to Us Via Poetry, Art, and Music

I love this painting by Luc-Olivier Merson, (1879). If I ever get to Boston I'll make a point of going to see it at the Museum of Fine Arts. Great art inspires not only the mind but the heart, revealing important truths. Sometimes truth doesn't come through argument or profound reasoning, but through poetry, art, and music.

When You're in the Desert, What Do You Do?

"THE land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, 

and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily." Isaiah 35:1

What do you think of when you hear the word "desert?" What is its connotation for you? Dry, arid, hot, desolate, sandstorms, lonely, thirsty, wilderness....? Are there any positive associations when you think of the word?

The Bible is full of desert experiences, some good, some not so good. 

Do You Want to Find an Oasis of Peace?

Meditate on beautiful religious art works. What better prayer aid for the rosary and other spiritual devotions than wonderful art works?

I'm going to use this Fra Angelica face of Mary and the Rembrandt Flight into Egypt to meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary and the devotion of the Seven Sorrows.of Mary.

Mother of Sorrows, Pray for us.

But my favorite meditation aid is the Holy Face of Jesus, the living face reconstructed from the face on the Shroud of Turin.