Saturday, April 19, 2008

God's Messengers..........April 19






"The Angels are the shepherds of our souls.
Not content with bringing our messages to God,
they also bring God's messages to us.
They nourish our souls
with their delightful inspirations
as well as their Divine communications."



St. John of the Cross

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are the sandals that the kneeling young man in the picture is looking at Our Lord's? What a lovely and unusual holy card and the quote from St. John about our angels I am writing down! Thankyou Micki!


Diane S.

Anonymous said...

Oh Angel of God
My guardian dear
Through God's Love protects me here
Ever this day and ever this night
Be at my side to light in God
To rule in God, Amen

Anonymous said...

MICKI, Hi, I'm unfamiliar with this quote from St. John of the Cross, and am glad to learn of it. Do you know which of his works it comes from?
ED, I have joined you in spirit each day since you talked about your bird houses. I have a family of very small birds that returns each year to our rusted white painted old clothes line pole, where they live, and raise and feed and scold and teach and prod their young. I've enjoyed them so much, sometimes in laughter. And I consider myself all the wiser at times through their generations and their consistency and their abandon.
TODAY is the anniversary of our Holy Father's ordination three years ago, isn't it? Thank You for him, Father, and for his presence in the U.S. during his anniversary as well as his birthday! Amen.
FOOL(FriendOfOurLord)

Anonymous said...

p.s. Correction: it's the third anniversary of our Holy Father's inauguration (as Pope), which is what I meant -- not his ordination. Oooops.
God be with and bless each of you and yours, now and forever. Amen.
FOOL (FriendOfOurLord)

Easter Almuena said...

Micki,
I find this holy card truly fascinating. Whose sandals are those? I had to pause and contemplate. Perhaps, they are a representation of Jesus' invitation to walk his holy walk. Those angels, being God's messengers and holding Mary and Baby Jesus, I believe they tell me that though the walk Jesus invites us to may be a difficult one, Mary is there loving and guiding us as a mother should.

Thank you as ever, dearest Micki! And what a joy to read everyone's response!

Anonymous said...

Micki, this card contains more than its share of "mysteries." I just cannot figure out anything about it, even though I have tried (my intuition and by Internet searches).

Here's what I'm wondering ...

1. a. What is the church/cathedral that is depicted?
b. What is the object, on the church, that is depicted as shining?
c. Whose statue is on the ground in front of the church?

2. Is the church Eastern Christian (Byzantine or Orthodox), since it has the customary "onion-shaped" structures?

3. Why are the angels depicted as women (something I've never seen before)? Is that an Eastern motif?

4. Who is the farmer [no halo] that is depicted? I see an ox and a plow, and the man is carrying a whip. Has the ox's back been bloodied by the whip?

5. Why is he genuflecting in wonder before a pair of sandals? [Thanks to Diane for identifying those objects, which were too unclear for me to understand before.]

Is there anything written on the back of the card?

John

Micki said...

Hello everyone,
Looks like this card is truly a puzzlement to most of us. I enjoyed reading everyone's comments. John is taking a look at the reverse side to see if there might be a clue. Meanwhile, we just have to look at it in wonder. I enjoyed Johns observance about the female angels.....for all of us who might have given our angels a "female" name. To answer the question about the quote. I'm sorry I don't know where the quote came from....does anyone else?
I'm wondering Ed if that was your personal Angel prayer? I've never seen it with those exact words. Lovely. Thank you also for naming those birds, one by one :-)
Great insite Easter. Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts or questions on this one.

Anonymous said...

Micki, in respond to your question.
That is the angel prayer that my Mother taught me when I was a child. I never forgot it. I wouldn't know where she got it from, but it has worked for me. My angel has always protected me thus far.
God Bless
Ed

Micki said...

Ed - What a wonderful tradition to have the prayer your mom taught you. I like that its a little different from the typical prayer I know. I'm sure "Samson" works hard to keep you safe. :-)

Easter Almuena said...

John,
Wonderful observations!

Easter Almuena said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I too have been trying to figure out which shrine this card is from and as yet don't know. However, I think the object that was thought to be sandals, is actually the relief image of Mary with Jesus that is shown on the card.

There might also be some significance to the lashes on the back of the cow. I seem to recall hearing the story about this (perhaps the farmer found the sculpture in a field he was plowing?) but can't remember exactly what it is.
Kay

Anonymous said...

OK, I think I solved the puzzle. I have a card from this place also but it had no identifying information and it was all written in Czech or some slavic language--but I dug around and found some really interesting information. The image is of
MARIA VE STARE BOLESLAVI
in the Czech Republic

Photo of the relief image -- but explanation is in Czech or some slavic language

The following is from the homepage in English:

" Stara Boleslav played an important role in the beginning of the Premyslid state. There are two famous pilgrimage churches – Basilica of Saint Wenceslas and the Church of Ascension of Virgin Mary.

Stara Boleslav got famous by an important historical event – prince Wenceslas, one of the most important sovereigns in our history, was assassinated by his own brother Boleslav in 929 there. And therefore the basilica was built on the same place where Wenceslas died. Prince was later cannonized and proclaimed a saint patron of Bohemia and a symbol of the Czech statehood.

Stara Bloeslav is also well known for the bronze relief of the Virgin Mary with her child Jesus, Palladium of the Bohemian lands.

The legend says that local farmer found this relief in 1160 and it was said to have a miraculaous power.

According to the legend Saint Ludmila, Saint Wenceslas´ grandmother, gained it from Saint Metod and prince Wenceslas inherited it. After his assassination one of his friends blessed Podiven to take it and hide it as the enemies of Saint Wenceslas could not get it. Unfortunately Podiven was murdered too.

The baroque church was built on the same place in 17th century and it is situated near basilica.

Church of Saint Kliment, which is situated next to basilica of St. Wenceslas, belongs to the oldest romantic buildings in the Czech Republic. It was built in about 11th century and decorated in 12th century.

Come and see beautiful, historical and pilgrimate city of Stara Boleslav and feel its nonrecurring atmosphere."


This is too cool--a livecam of the interior

Kay

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Kay, for your productive detective work! I gave it a try, but did not get as far as you did.

I was able to determine that the back of Micki's card had the words of the prayer called the "Memorare" -- in the Czech language. St. Bernard was mentioned, but not the pilgrimage town, "Stara Boleslav."

I know that the word, "stara," means, "old," in Slavic languages. It is interesting that the town is named after Boleslav, the murderous brother of St. Vaclav (Wenceslaus).

At a page on the site that you linked, I learned that Stara Boleslav has multiple churches and chapels, the most important being the Basilica of St. Wenceslaus and the Church of the Assumption of Mary.

I know that the interior of the Assumption Church is visible at the "webcam" site that you linked. It also may be the church (with the twin spires) that is pictured on Micki's card. I'll let you judge by looking at this interesting page.

John

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is the Church of the Assumption on your card, Micki. See a bird's-eye view of it here.

I alos found this on another Czech page: "According to legend, Václav [St. Wenceslaus] wore around his neck a medallion depicting the Virgin. It was taken from his body by one of the killers, but Václav’s loyal servant, Podiven, recovered the medallion and hid it. That was the last anyone heard of it for several centuries, until a local farmer dug it up while plowing his field. The original was subsequently lost, but some folks figured that given its heritage, a reasonable facsimile would serve to protect the Czech nation from collapse and disintegration. The “palladium,” as the replica is known, is kept as a holy relic; visitors can gaze upon it at the handsome Baroque Church of the Assumption on Mariánské náměstí."

Micki said...

Thanks to Kay and John for all the additional background on this holy card. It was a lot of time consuming work to find all this information. What a treasure you both are to search this out and make the information available to all who are fascinated by this card....even though they might not comment I'm sure they find it a source of great joy. Thank you both again. Blessings and Hugs.

Anonymous said...

John, I enjoyed looking at the information you found as well. The Radio Praha site was especially interesting.

I've visited the webcam a few times. I think a priest was at the lectern in one visit and today there are about 8 people sitting in the pews. Oh, now there are about 16 and it looks like we're just in time for 9 o'clock Mass. Amazing!

I was wondering if the Christmas carol about "Good King Wenceslaus" was related to this person,place, and time and I found this.
I think the internet is just SOOOOOOO amazing.
Kay

Anonymous said...

I just find this fascinating--more links, very interesting. If you click on the second link there are over 200 photos of a procession (See St. Wenceslaus himself!) and views inside the church.

Staraboleslav photos/videos

Very interesting photo gallery of St. Wenceslaus' feast day celebration, 2007

Easter Almuena said...

My oh my! :-) Micki, your blog and Kay's are certainly a treasure for us! :-)

Thank you John and Kay for all your postings that enrich our understanding of the mysteries of this beautiful card! I can only praise God! :-)

God's loving embrace to Micki and all! :-)