Leonard Cohen: “… what comes after America.”

Rob Kuil

 

Published on Apr 5, 2015

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Pope says his concern for poor comes from Gospel | bt24News We all know that Marx was born some 19 centuries after the birth of Christianity)

A seagull flies near the window as Pope Francis reads out his Sunday Angelus prayer in the Vatican on Sunday.— AP

Pope Francis is insisting that his concern for the poor and critique of the global economic system isn’t some novel, communist-inspired ideology but rather the original and core “touchstone” of the Christian faith.

Some US conservatives have branded the first Latin American pope a Marxist for his frequent critiques of consumerism and focus on a church “that is poor and for the poor.” But in an interview contained in a new book, Pope Francis explains that his message is rooted in the Gospel and has been echoed by church fathers since Christianity’s first centuries.

via Pope says his concern for poor comes from Gospel | bt24News.

Saint of the Day for Friday, December 26th, 2014: St. Stephen Observed worldwide by Christians of all denominations

Pope Dionysius (259 – 268), Fresco in Sixtine Chapel, Vatican (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Saint of the Day for Friday, December 26th, 2014

St. Stephen

Stephen’s name means “crown,” and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr’s crown. Stephen was a deacon in the early Christian Church. The apostles had found that they … continue reading

Pope Zosimus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

More Saints of the Day

St. Stephen St. Abadiu St. Amaethlu St. Archelaus St. Pope Dionysius St. Marinus St. Neol Chabanel

St. Tathal St. Theodore the Sacrist St. Vincentia Maria Lopez Y Vicuna St. Zeno St. Zosimus St. Zosimus

Related articles

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• The Nativity According to Matthew

Adoration of the Magi. @BLMedieval Egerton 2125 f. 182v — Melibeus (@melibeus1): trei crai de la rasarit

Grupul psaltic Tronos-Trei crai de la rasarit.

bogdanbdl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adoration of the Magi, Hans Memling

The Adoration of the Magi (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magis adoratur) is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. It is related in the Bible by Matthew 2:11: “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path”.

The church calendar, this event is commemorated in Western Christianity as the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). The Orthodox Church commemorates the Adoration of the Magi on the Feast of the Nativity (December 25). Christian iconography has considerably expanded the bare account of the Biblical Magi given in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (2:1–22) and used it to press the point that Jesus was recognized, from his earliest infancy, as king of the earth.

History of the depiction

Adoration of the Magi after Hieronymus Bosch

Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 17th century

Dirk Bouts, 15th century

In the earliest depictions, the Magi are shown wearing Persian dress of trousers and Phrygian caps, usually in profile, advancing in step with their gifts held out before them. These images adapt Late Antique poses for barbarians submitting to an Emperor, and presenting golden wreaths, and indeed relate to images of tribute-bearers from various Mediterranean and ancient Near Eastern cultures going back many centuries. The earliest are from catacomb paintings and sarcophagus reliefs of the 4th century. Crowns are first seen in the 10th century, mostly in the West, where their dress had by that time lost any Oriental flavour in most cases.^[1] Later Byzantine images often show small pill-box like hats, whose significance is disputed. They are usually shown as the same age until about this period, but then the idea of depicting the three ages of man is introduced: a particularly beautiful example is seen on the façade of the cathedral of Orvieto. The scene was one of the most indispensable in cycles of the Life of the Virgin as well as the Life of Christ.

Occasionally from the 12th century, and very often in Northern Europe from the 15th, the Magi are also made to represent the three known parts of the world: Balthasar is very commonly cast as a young African or Moor, and old Caspar is given Oriental features or, more often, dress. Melchior represents Europe and middle age. From the 14th century onwards, large retinues are often shown, the gifts are contained in spectacular pieces of goldsmith work, and the Magi’s clothes are given increasing attention.^[1] By the 15th century, the Adoration of the Magi is often a bravura piece in which the artist can display their handling of complex, crowded scenes involving horses and camels, but also their rendering of varied textures: the silk, fur, jewels and gold of the Kings set against the wood of the stable, the straw of Jesus’s manger and the rough clothing of Joseph and the shepherds.

The scene often includes a fair diversity of animals as well: the ox and ass from the Nativity scene are usually there, but also the horses, camels, dogs, and falcons of the kings and their retinue, and sometimes other animals, such as birds in the rafters of the stable. From the 15th century onwards, the Adoration of the Magi is quite often conflated with the Adoration of the Shepherds from the account in the Gospel of Luke (2:8–20), an opportunity to bring in yet more human and animal diversity; in some compositions (triptychs for example), the two scenes are contrasted or set as pendants to the central scene, usually a Nativity.

The “adoration” of the Magi at the crib is the usual subject, but their arrival, called the “Procession of the Magi”, is often shown in the distant background of a Nativity scene, or as a separate subject. Other subjects include the Journey of the Magi, where they and perhaps their retinue are the only figures, and relatively uncommon scenes of their meeting with Herod and the Dream of the Magi.

The usefulness of the subject to the Church and the technical challenges involved in representing it have made the Adoration of the Magi a favorite subject of Christian art: chiefly painting, but also sculpture and even music (as in Gian-Carlo Menotti‘s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors). The subject matter is also found in stained glass. The first figural stained glass window made in the United States is the “Adoration of the Magi” window located at Christ Church, Pelham, New York and designed in 1843 by the founder and first rector’s son, William Jay Bolton.

 

Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Adoration of the Magi, tapestry, wool and silk on cotton warp, 101 1/8 x 151 1/4 inches (258 x 384 cm.), Manchester Metropolitan University (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Adoration of the Magi (circa 1305) by Giotto, purportedly depicting Halley. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Adoration of the Magi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related articles

• The Meaning of the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh (great video sermon)
• One King – My 25 Favorite Christmas Songs (Dec 14)
• The Christmas Massacre of the Innocents – History or Myth?
• Christmas Gift

Saint of the Day for Sunday, September 21st, 2014: St. Matthew the Apostle

Saint of the Day for Sunday, September 21st, 2014

English: Apostle Matthew (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  St. Matthew the Apostle

English: the first page of the Gospel of Matthew (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

St. Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles, is the author of the first Gospel. This has been the constant tradition of the Church and is confirmed by the Gospel itself. He was the son of Alpheus and was … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Matthew St. Alexander Sts. Chastan & Imbert St. Eusebius St. Francis Jaccard St. Gerulph

St. Hieu St. Maura Troyes St. Meletius St. Pamphilus St. Thomas Dien

Brilliant Music: Bach – Cantata BWV 140 – Peter Schreier – Sleepers wake

Bach – Cantata BWV 140 – Peter Schreier – Sleepers wake

Zion hoert die Waechter singen 
Conductor: Karl Richter
Tenor: Peter Schreier
Orchestra: Munich Bach Choir, Munich Bach Orchestra
Sleepers Wake

from wikipedia

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Awake, calls the voice to us), BWV 140, also known as Sleepers Wake, is achurch cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the 27th Sunday afterTrinity and first performed it on 25 November 1731. It is based on the hymn “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” (1599) by Philipp Nicolai. Movement 4 of the cantata is the base for the first of Bach’s Schübler Chorales, BWV 645. The cantata is a late addition to Bach’s cycle of chorale cantatas, featuring additional poetry for two duets of Jesus and the Soul which expand the theme of the hymn.

History and text

Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for the 27th Sunday after Trinity. This Sunday occurs only when Easter is extremely early.^[1] The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, be prepared for the day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13).^[2] The chorale cantata is based on the Lutheran hymn in three stanzas, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” of Philipp Nicolai, which is based on the Gospel.^[1] Bach composed the cantata to complete his cycle of chorale cantatas which he had begun in 1724.^[3][4] The text of the three stanzas appears unchanged in movements 1, 4 and 7, while an unknown author supplied poetry for movements 2 and 3, 5 and 6, both a sequence ofrecitative and duet.^[5] He refers to the love poetry of the Song of Songs, showing Jesus as the bridegroom of the Soul.^[3] According to Christoph Wolff, the text was already available when Bach composed his cycle of chorale cantatas.^[6]

Bach performed the cantata only once, in Leipzig’s main church Nikolaikirche on 25 November 1731.^[3] According toChristoph Wolff, Bach performed it only this one time, although the 27th Sunday after Trinity occurred one more time during his tenure in Leipzig, in 1742.^[1] He used movement 4 of the cantata as the base for the first of his Schübler Chorales, BWV 645.^[6]

Related articles

• Saturday afternoon at 5:30, we will be performing Bach’s Cantata BWV 106
• Bach Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 (Weihnachtsoratorium)
• Bach’s Cantata BWV 21
• Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Choir will “wake up” listeners with a popular Bach Cantata and several other works at a holiday concert this Friday night. Plus, the Madison Opera gets an NEA grant to help stage Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” in t

Parable of the talents or minas

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

For the novel by Octavia Butler, see Parable of the Talents (novel).

The parable of the talents, as depicted in a 1712 woodcut. The lazy servant searches for his buried talent, while the two other servants present their earnings to their master. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The parable of the talents, as depicted in a 1712 woodcut. The lazy servant searches for his buried talent, while the two other servants present their earnings to their master.

The Parable of the talents or minas, (also known as the Parable of Talents or The Parable of the Pounds), is one of the well known parables of Jesus. It appears in two of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament, and a variant is also found in the noncanonical Gospel of the Hebrews. The differences between Matthew25:14-30 and the Luke 19:12-27 are substantial, and the two parables may not be derived from the same source.^[1] In Matthew, the opening words appear to link the parable to the preceding parable of the Ten Virgins,^[1] a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven.