May our voices bless

The Ghent Altarpiece, Singing Angels,
Jan Van Eyck, 15th-Century Dutch.

One Advent/Christmas reflection on Silence, one on Voices:

To reach my popular post "Keep Silence This Advent," click here.

And here is my new reflection, which will post this weekend in the SQPN-affiliated Catholic Vitamins podcast V-- For Voices. My Missionary Moment for that podcast features my father reading his morning offering, and reflecting on its meaning, plus my daughter singing Et in Terra Pax:

Voices
By Marianna Bartholomew

Voices -- can babble, argue, demand and demean. Or they can gently, sweetly calm...speak words of peace and love, and unity.

Voices can be heard too seldom, in the life of a man or woman alone, in a new city, estranged from all that is familiar. Voices can be rare in the life of the elderly, beyond demands to take medicine, or to move here or there, or to head to bed or awaken.

Voices can rattle the nerves of a young mother, when it’s dinnertime and the toddlers are hungry and the husband reaches home on a late train from work. Voices can shake the confidence of young and old, when they are teasing, sarcastic, tempting or over-demanding.

But at their best, voices bless. Voices reach through history, through the ages, forming our foundations, our heritage. Voices repeat and resound in oral traditions that shape, guide and celebrate. Voices through radio, television or internet can be powerful agents for good or evil. Voices through history, can be great educators. Voices should be heeded.

The voices of wise men and women of faith resonate through the ages and are available to us today, if only sought.

Listen to the voice of a saintly Catholic from more than 1200 years ago:

Christ the True Vine Greek Icon, 16th C.

Rod of the Root of Jesse

Rod of the Root of Jesse,

Thou, Blossom of Mary born,

From that thick shady mountain,

Cam’st glorious forth this morn:

Of her, the Ever-Virgin,

Incarnate wast Thou made,

The immaterial Essence,

The God by all obeyed!

In Balaam’s ancient vision

The Eastern seers were skilled;

They traced the constellations,

And joy their spirits filled:

For Thou, bright Star of Jacob,

Ascending in Thy might,

Summoned these first Gentiles here

To worship in Thy light.

As on a fleece descending

The gentle dews distil,

As rain o’erflows the cistern

The Virgin didst Thou fill.

Tarshish and Ethiopia,

The Isles and Araby,

And Media, leagued with Sheba,

Fall down and worship Thee.

By St. Cosmas (d. 760)

Translated by J.M. Neale

So, we have the wisdom of the saints, and we have the wisdom of our elders. Do we take time to sit and listen? Here is wisdom from my father, a 94-year-old man, rich in experience, who learned what faith is from loving parents. He speaks especially of his father. Born into poverty by the stockyards of Chicago, his passion for learning and solid footing in faith uplifted him to become a mechanical engineer and patriarch of a large and growing family. He shares here his morning prayer, offered to the Lord day in, day out, for decades beyond counting:

Morning Offering
Thank you, Almighty Father, for this moment 
and for another beautiful day to do your work: 
to love and to prove myself worthy 
of the eternal reward prepared for me in heaven. 

I will greet the new day with a song and a smile.
I know You are with me and I dedicate this day to You. 
Let my love for you, my wife, my family and all mankind 
shine in my every good work every day of my life. 

I will live life to the hilt, seize every opportunity, 
smile at all adversity, and revel in the joy and wonder 
of a full and productive life 
in this wonderful world of your creation.  

-- By Joseph F. Robin, Sr.

MB: So, did you always feel this way?
JR: Yes, I think so...most of the time. But if somebody asked me to put it down into words I might not have said everything there. But the gist of the thing is that you're telling God that you will be what He wants you to be...and He wants me to say that freely and openly and grab everything he has to offer.
MB: Did you learn that from your Dad?
JR: I think my father did live that way...he was a very, very fine man. And I think he did his job just about like nobody else I ever knew.
MB: Did he put all his heart into it?
JR: Absolutely.

Finally, we have the voices of youth. Do we listen? Do we encourage our youth to express what is most excellent within them? What frightens or confuses them? Do we placate our youth with movies and good times, new clothes and new cars, but not care for their spirit? Here is the voice of one young person who has lived and loved for 18 years….in whom the faith of her parents and grandparents has taken root and flowered. Her faith spills into song and wishes peace upon the earth, in the traditional Latin piece, Et in Terra Pax:

(Erin Bartholomew sings) Et in terra pax, hominibus, bonae voluntatis, Et in terra pax, hominibus, pax, et in terra pax, hominibus…

God’s blessings upon you, these final days of Advent. Wishing you a blessed Christmas filled with only fine and loving voices and a New Year brightened by the Lord’s sweet voice daily guiding and cheering you.

Jesse Trees Help Define Advent

Making these Jesse Tree Ornaments with friends set me up
for decades of future Advent seasons.
Photo by Marianna Bartholomew

At an Opus Dei woman’s night of reflection at a parish west of Chicago, the priest took a good, long time counseling each penitent. The line stretched along the back of the church and out into the narthex. One woman toward the end was around 30 years old and tall, with abundant, curly dark hair. Her face was calm, but something about the way she stood had me whispering to her, asking if everything was ok. That’s how I found out she had just had back surgery and been released from the hospital. Her first time out, she had headed to Confession.

My husband and dog Maestro by the Jesse Tree.
The ornament top right symbolizes Creation.

Honestly? At the time, all I could think was that my first destination after being cooped up from surgery probably would not be a Confessional line.

The woman admitted she was in pain, and finally went to lie down on a long bench against the wall. I called her over when her time for Confession came.

Several days later, a friend from a town nearly half an hour away told me about a new lady from church who was moving with her husband from an apartment into a little home. The woman had several children, and was in back pain from a recent surgery. My friend and the lady were going to start a special Jesse Tree project. I had heard of Jesse Trees, but wondered why these two were thinking of Christmas, months out of season.

I asked if I could crash their plans and arrived at the first gathering with my three children in tow. Sure enough, our hostess was the lady I had met in the Confession line. Again she was smiling – and in back pain. Our little ones rambled around the basement playing with a dollhouse and Legos while the three moms cut out pink and purple circles – the colors of Advent. We used fabric paints to depict scenes and write verses from Scripture:  For the First Friday of Advent we illustrated Isaac and the Ram, Genesis 22: 1-14. For the second Tuesday, we drew tablets with Roman Numerals for Moses and the Law, Exodus 20:1-17. I loved creating a little felt mission church for the story of Nehemiah the Builder and had to laugh when my camel resembled a dinosaur for the story of Abraham.

It was a new experience, making these Jesse Tree ornaments, which numbered 29: 28 days for Advent, and one for Christmas Day. We averaged just several ornaments each meeting, so this project gave our children many play dates rotating through three homes. Our sessions stretched through the Summer and into the Fall. Our hostess made her set as a gift -- I believe, for a couple of newlyweds. Out of simple felt and fabric paint, an amazing heirloom-type gift.

Jesse Tree patterns are easily found for free online and anyone can have fun with this project. Our ornaments are about the diameter of a bagel, but I’ve seen some as small as a quarter. People make them out of every material imaginable: wood, cardboard, construction paper and felt, using markers, crayons or paint. The ornaments hang on Christmas trees, over mantelpieces, on yarn strung around doorways, or from branches stuck into a vase. 

And the point of the Jesse Tree? Isaaiah chapter 11, versus 1-2 says:

"But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,

and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

A spirit of counsel and of strength,

a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD."

That image, of the ancestral tree of Jesus that shows his noble birth, has been shown in stained glass windows and in paintings, since ancient times.

In the 1100s, a monk named Hervaeus wrote, "The patriarch Jesse belonged to the royal family, that is why the root of Jesse signifies the lineage of kings. As to the rod, it symbolises Mary as the flower symbolises Jesus Christ.”

Lighting a candle after dinner, gathering the family to sing O Come Emmanuel, reading Scripture verses of the day and hanging the corresponding Jesse Tree ornament, is now a beautiful Advent tradition in our home. We hang the ornaments on our tree until Christmas Eve. We attend Mass, then exchange Jesse Tree ornaments for Christmas ornaments, while we enjoy eggnog and cookies.

We’ve done this for the past eight years or so, and I always think back to that first encounter of the woman who gave us the gift of the Jesse Tree. She first gave a strong testimony to me by simply bearing her pain and being patient in a Confessional line. 

After welcoming me, a stranger, into her home, she became a good friend. Our little Jesse Tree gatherings became a Bible Study group. Our children were friends for years.

Two years ago, at the start of Advent, she continued her testimony. I received an email from Katherine, that she had sent to people who had either made ornaments with her or received those ornaments: that email went to 18 recipients, all people touched by her little Jesse Tree ministry. She wrote:

“I remember fondly praying, studying, and crafting with you, in our old apartment, at your house, or in our basement of this house.  So many years, with great glue shared around many a newspaper covered table!”

She reminded us to take out our Jesse Trees, writing, “I hope your family life is drawn closer to the heart of God due to the love of Jesus, and growing through His Word through this simple devotion.  None of us gets it perfectly.  We just do as many days as we each can.  The goal is to pray with our family, and to spend time together.”

Then she went on to describe other Advent traditions in her family. This lady was chasing around one-year-old twins, caring for a daughter with heart defects that needed massive surgeries, had children ranging up to the teens, and I believe it was right around that time that repeated floods had destroyed her basement. Yet she took time to encourage 18 other people in their Advent journeys.

Katherine’s a graduate of Franciscan University in Steubenville, a great Catholic College, but it’s hidden in her home, surrounded by little ones, laundry and household duties, that she continues to be a powerful lay missionary, giving a testimony that enriches lives.

In her own words:

“Jesus being in our lives as the focus and center is key for every job we have to do.”

May your Advent be blessed.


Photos by Marianna Bartholomew

Keep Silence this Advent

Photo by Bartholomews, taken at Basilica of Saint Mary, St. Paul, MN

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence is a 4^th Century chant of Eucharistic devotion popularized by composer Ralph Vaghan Williams, who set the stanzas to the French tune Picardy in 1906. The verses describe God descending to Earth with “blessing in his hand,” as he gives “His own self for heavenly food.” 

“Let all the Earth keep silence before him,” urges the book of Habakkuk 2:20, the Scripture from which the chant is based.

Do we seek silence? That still disposition of preparing to receive our “heavenly food,” should resonate through our days.

Under the frenetic onslaught of modern life, souls crave silence…silence punctuated by winds rustling, fire crackling, pages turning or gentle conversation. Silence stirred by heartbeats and contemplation. A silence sipped like fine wine, because it is so rare in our world. Just as important as developing a love of fine music, is learning to appreciate silence. Cultivating a listening silence in our hearts that extends beyond church and Eucharistic adoration, will help us hear God’s whispers each moment.

Even amidst children crying, phones ringing, the mad race of traffic and the day’s pressing demands, we can capture a breath of silence, casting our heart and mind heavenward. Pockets of silence, sought amidst the din, sanctify our day.

Enter into the mysteries of Advent peace and Christmas joy. Move beyond busyness. To make Advent more than a commercial or culinary adventure, seek silence:

Silent Joy

In silence, we welcome You, newborn babe

We tremble with joy in Your presence

We adore You

We marvel that God’s greatness is hidden 

In such a fragile child

A newborn, shivering in the manger

We listen and hear Your feeble cry

Our hearts meet Yours

We draw softly closer

In tender reverence, we bow our heads

Knowing the sacrifice Your life will bring

Even now, a shadow falls upon You

Only a crossbeam from the stable roof

But now, may we think only of joy?

May we welcome You in trembling joy?

In silence, first

Our souls speak Your language

We prepare carefully to meet You

Newborn King

Any attraction we have for the wayward path

We lay aside now

May we join in Your journey toward heaven?

Soon, we will raise our voices in prayer and sacred song

In the Eucharist

In Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity

You are born anew each day

But now, we reflect, we rejoice

In silence, we are deeply moved

Angels hover

Creation trembles with Your coming

Little Lord Jesus, we love You

We embrace You

In silence

Please be born into our hearts

And be beloved to us

Forever

By Marianna Bartholomew

Christmas Day, 2005