Frank Wesley (Indian, 1923–2002), Mary Going to Visit Elizabeth, n.d. Egg tempera, 20 × 25 cm. Source: Frank Wesley: Exploring Faith with a Brush, p. 173 To Elizabeth she came, over the hills, bearing the Lord flowering in her womb— sacrament of her flesh, bud richly taut— the warmth of her containing His infinity, the sun His fire. The dark earth of her body seemed to encompass all things. The terraced fields of Juda pregnant with seed called out to her as she passed, praising the Child she was yet to bear, invoking His blessing on their expectancy. These must call out, full in their ful ..read more

AVANT-GARDE CLASSICAL: Klang—Die 24 Stunden des Tages (Sound—The 24 Hours of the Day) is a cycle of chamber-music compositions by the avant-garde German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, which he worked on from 2004 until his death in 2007. (The intention was for there to be twenty-four pieces, but the cycle was unfinished at twenty-one.) The first two pieces in the cycle, on the themes of Ascension and Pentecost, were commissioned for the interdisciplinary Pause festival at Milan Cathedral by artache, a Milan-based nonprofit committed to showcasing contemporary artworks in public places of wors ..read more

Romare Bearden (American, 1912–1988), All the Things You Are, 1987. Collage, color dyes, and watercolor on board, 36 × 24 in. (91.4 × 61 cm). I used to think of you as a symphony neatly structured, full of no surprises. Now I see you as a saxophone solo blowing wildly into the night, a tongue of fire, flicking in unrepeated patterns. From Poems by Steve Turner, compiled by Rebecca Winter (Oxford: Lion Publishing, 2002) Steve Turner is a music journalist, biographer, and poet from the UK who has spent his career chronicling and interviewing people from the worlds of music, film, telev ..read more

Celebrated fifty days after Easter, Pentecost is one of the great feasts of the Christian year. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’s apostles when they were gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks ten days after Jesus ascended to heaven, marking the birth of the church. Acts 2 describes the Spirit’s coming as accompanied by a “rushing mighty wind” and “tongues of fire”—quite the dramatic entry! The Spirit filled the apostles with the miraculous ability to preach in speech that was comprehensible to all the many Jewish pilgrims, from various language groups, who were g ..read more

Looking for hymns for Ascension Day (which is May 18 this year), I came across “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing.” Originally written in Latin, it is attributed to the Venerable Bede (673–735), a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Monkwearmouth and one of the most important scholars of the Early Middle Ages. “Hymnum canamus gloriæ” circulated throughout medieval Europe in various versions, with the earliest known surviving example appearing in the mid-eleventh century in Beinecke MS 481.36, fols. 2r–2v. The Ascension, from the Hunterian Psalter, made in England, ca. 1170. Glasgow, University Lib ..read more

Michael Smither (New Zealand, 1939–), Doubting Thomas, early 1970s. Mural, St. Joseph’s Church, New Plymouth, New Zealand. O You! You tiny who Of Simeons song You shepherds shock You singular star-bright You student Shunning company And travel For scholars light. Just apprentice Of your mothers husband True measurer And leveler And line Authoritative voice Enlisting aid Selector And selected And Divine. Creative host Of weddings, picnics, graves Most social And uncelebrated Friend You thoughtful martyr You thirsty man You dying God— I hoped! But this concludes ..read more

QUOTE: The Easter season is a time of hope. There still is fear, there still is a painful awareness of sinfulness, but there also is light breaking through. Something new is happening, something that goes beyond the changing moods of our life. We can be joyful or sad, optimistic or pessimistic, tranquil or angry, but the solid stream of God’s presence moves deeper than the small waves of our minds and hearts. Easter brings the awareness that God is present even when his presence is not directly noticed. Easter brings the good news that, although things seem to get worse in the world, the Evil ..read more

Jyoti Sahi (Indian, 1944–), Triptych of Salvation, 2021. Acrylic, oil, and ocher on canvas, 24 × 48 in. All photos courtesy of the artist. Death trampled our Lord underfoot, but he in his turn treated death as a highroad for his own feet. He submitted to it, enduring it willingly, because by this means he would be able to destroy death in spite of itself. Death had its own way when our Lord went out from Jerusalem carrying his cross, but when by a loud cry from that cross he summoned the dead from the underworld, death was powerless to prevent it. Death slew him by means of the body which he ..read more

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that th ..read more

LOOK: Magnolias by Stanley Spencer Stanley Spencer (British, 1891–1959), Magnolias, 1938. Oil on canvas, 22 × 26 in. (56 × 66 cm). Private collection. LISTEN: “Creation Blooms Anew” by Nick Chambers, 2020 Again your Spirit sweeps, a wind over the deep; a new creation now arrives to rouse us from our sleep. The breath of heaven brings the long-awaited spring into the fields and seas and skies and every barren thing. Refrain: Creation blooms anew in fresh and joyful hue. In Christ’s arising all things rise to draw their breath from you. Awaken by the sound of forging swords into plows. Come fi ..read more