Blaze

For You are My Light

Painting: Jakub Schikaneder

If We Do Not...

The Deeper Darkness

To Illumine the Earth

'Today the darkness begins to grow shorter and the 

light to lengthen, as the hours of night become fewer... 

Realize that the true Light is now here and, 

through the rays of the gospel, is illumining the whole earth.'

St. Gregory of Nyssa

And So We Pray

'To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.'

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Painting: Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow

Come, My Light

'Come, my Light,
and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life,
and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician,
and heal my wounds.
Come, Flame of Divine Love,
and burn up the thorns of my sins,
kindling my heart with the flame of Your love.'

St. Dimitrii










Painting: 'Young Boy Singing,' in US public domain due to age

The Endurance of Darkness

'The endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.'

St. John of the Cross 

 Painting: John Atkinson Grimshaw

I Run to the Fountain

'O Lord, I run to the spring; I desire the source of the water. 

In You is the fountain of life, an inexhaustible source; 

in Your light there is a light which will never be darkened... 

Seeing this light, my eye grows keener.  

Drinking from this fountain, 

my inner thirst becomes more acute. 

I run to the fountain, 

panting for its water..... 

I run like a deer...'

St. Augustine

Painting:  Walter Moras, in US public domain due to age (PD-US)

On Candlemas Day

'The light has come 
and has shone upon 
a world enveloped in shadows; 
the Dayspring 
from on high has visited us 
and given light
to those who lived in darkness. 
This, then, is our feast, 
and we join in procession 
with lighted candles 
to reveal the light 
that has shone upon us 
and the glory that is yet 
to come to us through him.

So let us hasten all together
to meet our God.'

St. Sophronius; from Candlemas Day OOR


El Greco painting; digitally enhanced

Purifying Prayer

'Since prayer
places our intellect
in the brilliance
of God's light
and exposes our will
to the warmth
of His heavenly love,
nothing else
so effectively
purifies our intellect
of ignorance
and our will
of depraved affections.
It is a stream
of holy water
that flows forth
and makes the plants
of our good designs
grow green and flourish,
and quenches
the passions
within our hearts.'

St. Francis de Sales







Painting: Thomas Moran, 
Mountain of the Holy Cross
(the cross is in original - 
it is NOT a Photoshopped alteration!)


LATE BREAKING BLOG NEWS:  
The Breadbox Letters has been nominated for a Sheenazing award.   This has come as a complete surprise.  I now know what people mean when they say it is a privilege simply to be nominated for thus-and-so.  There is no 'simply' to it; it is a genuine honor to be listed on the same page with such truly exceptional bloggers.  The Breadbox Letters is in the category of Most Inspiring Blog.  Anyone can vote by clicking here. Voting continues until Monday.

This is especially timely for me, as today is the feast of the patron of Catholic writers.  Over twenty years ago, I took this saint as my personal patron as well.  St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.

Letter to St. Nicholas

Re-blogged from The Cloistered Heart, 2011: 

Dear Saint Nicholas,

My wish this year is not like what I’ve asked for before.  I'm not writing to ask for candy or trinkets.  This year I have but one wish:  I want to be a candle.

I want to stand tall and firm, carrying the Light of Christ even when winds and storms lash about me.  You see, good St. Nicholas, the world has grown terribly dark.  We talk of peace and sing of peace, yet rumors of wars swirl all around.  We’re busy and distracted, we have no time left over to pray.  We get confused about what is truth and what is not; we redefine sin and call it “choice” and “entertainment,” and there is more darkness around than I could tell you about.  In fact, there’s more darkness than I can even see.  It can be hard to peer into darkness, and I feel sometimes like a child at night who wants to cover her head with blankets and wait for morning light.  I need the light; the world needs the light.  So I want to be a candle.

Like a pillar of flame standing beside the Tabernacle in a monastery, lifting firelight fingers high in adoration, I want to offer praise to God.  Like a sanctuary light gently calling attention to the fact that Jesus is with us, I want to keep vigil by His side and call attention to Him.  I would like to flicker softly, as a gentle reminder of His presence, no matter where I may be.  So I want to be a candle.

I know I am asking a lot.  I know that in order for the Flame to increase, a candle must decrease.  A candle gives itself for the Fire; it gives its all.  That’s okay.  You see, I want to live my life for God.  I am not so good at the doing of this, but with the grace of God I’m getting better at the wanting. 

And I want to be a candle….

“The light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were wicked.  Everyone who practices evil hates the light; he does not come near it, for fear his deeds will be exposed.  But he who acts in truth comes into the light, to make clear that his deeds are done in God.” (John 3:19-21)

Text not in quotes © 2011 Nancy Shuman.  
 
Originally posted at thecloisteredheart.org; reblogged at thebreadboxletters.blogspot.com.

This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Linkup

public domain photo 

Now the Evening Lights

'Night is falling and day's allotted span draws to a close.  

The daylight that You created for Your pleasure has fully satisfied us;

and yet, of Your own free gift, 

now the evening lights do not fail us.'

St. Hippolytus

Painting: Johan Christian Claussen Dahl

The Steady Gleam

link to photo attribution

'All the lights of this world, radiant in their brilliance and wealth and flashing splendour, cannot compare with the pure, steady gleam of Faith.

'No earthly light can show us God.  No blaze from the fires of this world can light up the mysteries of life, or reveal Eternal Truths.

'No!  It is the fixed, constant, and unchanging Ray of Faith that turns darkness into day, and exchanges doubt for certainty.

'Faith gives not only light, but understanding and acute vision also.  All that we can see, we know was made from invisible things.

'Faith pierces the visible and gives a glimpse of the Invisible.'

from The Living Pyx of Jesus by A Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1941,  p.120

The Triumph of Light

 

"God is light; in Him here is no darkness." 

1 John 1:5

"The Light shines on in darkness, a darkness that did not overcome it."

John 1:5

"The darkness is over, and the real Light begins to shine."

1 John 2:8

"There was a time when you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord."

Ephesians 5:8

"I am the Light of the world.

  No follower of Mine shall ever walk in darkness;

no, he shall possess the Light of life."  

John 8:12 

Painting: Hope in a Prison of Despair, Evelyn De Morgan

A Triumph of Light

Light, even though it passes through pollution, is not polluted.

                                                                                      

St. Augustine

Hammershoi Sunlight painting in US public domain

The Same Light

"As the day breaks we see more clearly in a mirror the spots and stains of our faces.  In the same way, as the inward light of the Holy Spirit enlightens our consciences, we see more clearly and distinctly the sins, inclinations and imperfections that keep us from reaching true devotion. The same light that enables us to see such defects and imperfections inflames us with a desire to cleanse and purify ourselves of them."  (St. Francis de Sales)

"I acknowledged my sin to You, my guilt I covered not.  I said, 'I confess my faults to the Lord,' and You took away the guilt of my sin.  (Psalm 32:5)

(public domain painting)