I am so glad that you shared this experience with us. I would never have seen such a beautiful piece and certainly not been able to interpret it in this manner. It makes sense to me, what you described and how the artist depicted these ideas. It leaves me feeling loved and cherished by Jesus but also gently reminded of the need to keep that love in mind re our neighbours. This is an area that the Holy Spirit has been actively working on in me in the last few weeks. Bless you for sharing and yay to time away with your husband and sister! “Thy Will is my yearning…” is something you could repeat to yourself like an active prayer.
I loved the Siena exhibit too! I just sat on the bench facing it and stared and stared until my eyes got their fill. (Also with you on the badness of Onyx Storm - it took me forever to finish Iron Flame because wow…but my niece LOVES the series, so I kept gritting my teeth and slogging through. Oof!) Finally, so excited for you that you’re getting into McGinn’s history of mysticism!!! My volumes are so dog-eared and full of scraps of paper to mark places that you can basically recreate which bits I used the most for A Hidden Wisdom. 🌺
I only read the parts of McGinn in grad school that directly related to what I was working on… huge mistake, haha. It’s so good! And yes, in the Siena exhibit, staring felt like drinking to capacity… I was so tired afterward because I had been focusing so intently for so long! Amazing.
Loved that Middle English prayer. I understood it surprisingly well, maybe my knowledge of Swedish and German helped a bit. Everything in this post was lovely, thank you. With best wishes, from Finland, Pauliina.
I am so glad that you shared this experience with us. I would never have seen such a beautiful piece and certainly not been able to interpret it in this manner. It makes sense to me, what you described and how the artist depicted these ideas. It leaves me feeling loved and cherished by Jesus but also gently reminded of the need to keep that love in mind re our neighbours. This is an area that the Holy Spirit has been actively working on in me in the last few weeks. Bless you for sharing and yay to time away with your husband and sister! “Thy Will is my yearning…” is something you could repeat to yourself like an active prayer.
Thanks, Catherine, for your thoughts. Love that. Also love the idea of the active prayer with the Middle English!
Thank you for the joyful meditation on, and exegesis of, this gorgeous painting! I'm so grateful for your voice.
Thank you!
I loved the Siena exhibit too! I just sat on the bench facing it and stared and stared until my eyes got their fill. (Also with you on the badness of Onyx Storm - it took me forever to finish Iron Flame because wow…but my niece LOVES the series, so I kept gritting my teeth and slogging through. Oof!) Finally, so excited for you that you’re getting into McGinn’s history of mysticism!!! My volumes are so dog-eared and full of scraps of paper to mark places that you can basically recreate which bits I used the most for A Hidden Wisdom. 🌺
I only read the parts of McGinn in grad school that directly related to what I was working on… huge mistake, haha. It’s so good! And yes, in the Siena exhibit, staring felt like drinking to capacity… I was so tired afterward because I had been focusing so intently for so long! Amazing.
Loved that Middle English prayer. I understood it surprisingly well, maybe my knowledge of Swedish and German helped a bit. Everything in this post was lovely, thank you. With best wishes, from Finland, Pauliina.
That makes so much sense that your German and Swedish would help! Thanks for your kind words.