Burne-Jones PRB

Charity - Sir Edward Burne-Jones

Burne-Jones PRB

Hope - Sir Edward Burne-Jones

Burne-Jones PRB

Faith - Sir Edward Burne-Jones

Mitsui Christmas Cards

Daniel Mitsui of The Lion & the Cardinal has a selection of his drawings suitable for Christmas cards, bookplates, and giclee prints. Take a gander at their beauty here.

Choose Life - Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet

tip to Dawn Eden

Make sure to read the story behind the song HERE.

For Our Friend

In the Sun - Joseph Arthur (Performed by Michael Stipe & Coldplay)

I picture you in the sun wondering what went wrong
And falling down on your knees asking for sympathy
And being caught in between all you wish for and all you seen
And trying to find anything you can feel that you can believe in

May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you

I know I would apologize if I could see your eyes
cause when you showed me myself I became someone else
But I was caught in between all you wish for and all you need
I picture you fast asleep
A nightmare comes
You cant keep awake

May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you

cause if I find
If I find my own way
How much will I find
If I find
If I find my own way
How much will I find
You

I dont know anymore
What its for
Im not even sure
If there is anyone who is in the sun
Will you help me to understand
cause I been caught in between all I wish for and all I need
Maybe youre not even sure what its for
Any more than me

May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you

The Four Mass'keteers - the Musical?

Boris Grebenshikov, i.e. BG and his band the Aquarium play this nice Ireland folk melody from their album, Bespechnyi Russkii Brodyaga (Carefree Russian Tramp), 2006.

Saint Gregory and the Gregorian chant

From a beautiful post, Servant of servants of God by Deacon Greg check it out and the 10 minute video is worth every second!

Hail Holy Queen - Mater amata intermeratta

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

The Story of a Sign

HISTORIA DE UN LETRERO (THE STORY OF A SIGN)

... most Catholics don't know their history, heritage and legacy

(The following is not an indorsement for I have no personal experience with St. Luke Productions, however I found the interview interesting.)

FC: Why is this particular saint (St Maximilian Kolbe) important to today’s times?

LEONARDO DEFILIPPIS: He is very relevant because he’s a saint of our modern age, and he’s a saint particularly when he confronts good and evil, so to speak.

He lived through the communist regime and the Nazi regime, so he was constantly battling this kind of socialist and secular mindset, which still has its roots throughout a lot of modern society. He was a saint of the new evangelization.

FC. What got you involved in this type of evangelization?

LEONARDO DEFILIPPIS: I was very involved in the Shakespearean theater. I was a professional actor and my main focus at that time was classical theater. I had a conversion back to the Catholic faith as an actor in the midst of the normal chaos and the antireligious movement in the arts that are in Hollywood and … in normal theater. … It opened up a whole other genre for me and I saw there was a huge need for religious drama, which in the Catholic tradition we have such a void presently.

We really don’t have Catholic drama, in contrast to the (Catholic) press or music or visual arts.

(Defilippis continues) "... most Catholics don’t know their history, heritage and legacy. In other words, they don’t know who the saints are. They hardly know anything about Scripture and they don’t know the saints. (In) a lot of places, our children are forgetting or not even knowing who St. Francis of Assisi is or St. Thérèse … the more famous saints. It’s a way of saying we do not want our heritage to be forgotten."

READ MORE HERE Difilippis’ St. Maximilian Kolbe fills Catholic drama void.
HERE is link to his production company St. Luke Productions

Jeremiah Tell Me About the Fire

Jeremiah 20:9 And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot 'contain'.

"I've experienced that feeling, where I have said, 'Let me just get a job as an accountant and leave my work at home.'

MAKE SURE TO CLICK ON THE TITLE "Jeremiah" to see the video.

Jeremiah

The Other Side Of Something
by Sara Groves

Jeremiah tell me about the fire
That burns up in your bones
I want to know
I want to know more now

The burning of ambition and desire
It never could come close
To that fire
To that fire

Verse 1:
I was looking to myself
And I forgot the power of God
I was standing with a sparkler in my hand

While I stood so proud and profound
You went and burned the whole place down
Now that’s a fire

Verse 2:
I was caught up in this vice
And it’s power to entice
I was dwelling on my hopelessness and doubt

With the slightest invitation
You came with total detonation
Now that’s a fire

Bridge:
I was warming my hands by this little light of mine
but now I know it’s time
time to come in from the cold
Fight fire with fire, come fan the flame
come stir up these coals in my soul, in my soul
till it burns out of control



TIP TO ANCHORESS

Everyone Needs a Best Friend Like Cletus

Who Am I Being That My Children's Eyes Are Not Shining?

Parrish - Look Up

Stars (1926) - Maxfield Parrish

More than just another of Parrish's "girl on a rock" paintings, Stars represents for me both the true vulnerability of being human and our need for transcendence.

After the horrendous slaughter of Pentheus in Euripedes' THE BACCHAE, old Cadmus tells his daughter Agauë to "turn your eyes this way - look at the sky" to clear her mind of the madness of Dionysus.

Where do we go, to whom do we turn, to "look up," clear our minds of the madness of the tumult around and within us?

The first Vicar of Christ, Saint Peter, said it long ago: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God" [Jn 6,68-69].

We do not have to re-invent the wheel, begin at square one in each new generation - a comforting thought since ours is a generation so at-odds with ontological Being that it seems to despise the thought of begetting another.

Christ began the Church moving through history these 2,000 years plus. Its patrimony, truth, goodness, beauty, and grace are there for all to imbibe and partake.

Who are you going to trust for true transcendence?

Meet Italy's heavy metal brother (+video)

Dressed in his traditional brown robe, sandals and twirling the rope around his waist, 62-year old Friar Cesare Bonizzi is no ordinary heavy metal rocker. (Click on highlighted text to see article)

But as guitarists around him grind out heavy notes, the long-white-bearded Capuchin, a former missionary in Ivory Coast, has no qualms bobbing his head and shouting lyrics about alcohol, sex, tobacco and life in general into his microphone.

Describing himself as a "preacher-singer", Bonizzi has been singing for over a decade, and last month wowed heavy metal fans at Italy's Gods of Metal festival, where he performed with his band Fratello Metallo (Metal Brother) alongside groups such as Iron Maiden.

"About 14-15 years ago, I went to a Metallica concert and fell in love with heavy metal after I saw all the energy there," Bonizzi said after a rehearsal in a Milan recording studio. "I find (heavy metal) the most energetic, the most alive music."

A member of the Catholic Capuchin order in Milan, Bonizzi began singing heavy metal after having first started with what he calls "light music with slight rock influence".

This month punk label Tre Accordi Records, whose website offers titles including Life Stinks of Human Beings by The Valentines, released his second heavy metal album Misteri, or mysteries, inspired by a group of southern Italian women who sang about Jesus' mother Mary.

Bonizzi, whose car even has a poster of his album and "preacher-singer" scrawled on the side, is not the only musical monk enjoying fame.

In Austria, Cistercian monks released an album of Gregorian chants on the same record label as Amy Winehouse and Eminem.

Under the picture of our Heavy Metal Monkster make sure to link to Heavy metal monk wows fans to get a dose of his music.

All I got to ask is did he have to be a Franciscan?

Behold the Man

The Christ - Gustave Doré
[h/t: Nick Milne @ Daily Kraken]

If It Be Your Will

Leonard Cohen

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will
If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

You Can Run On For a Long Time

tip to Karen Hall @ Some Have Hats

When they said repent I wonder what they meant
When they said repent I wonder
When they said repent...
When

Matt Harding - World Dance

If you missed this, sit down, breathe deep, seek peace, and dream large with Matt Harding. [h/t: New Advent]