Christian Perspectives

Fra Angelico revived the flagging Church

Gwen Herat

An avant-gard painter from any direction one looks at this sacred paintings mostly found in Florence and Orvieto, Fra Angelico was God's gift to the church so he may influence and inspire it with his spiritual art.

He was both a monk and professional painter whose faith enriched the ideals of Humanism in his era. Earlier around 1400 and still earlier, the church was on low ebb, flagging for want of inspiration to stir and cause enthusiasm in the hearts of people, some of whom were lost.

Fra's detailed forthright perspective was great which in their splendour and richness, reflected his love for his Creator. The simple people who saw what he put on canvas, church coridoors and frescoes awakened their lost touch with God. Tirelessly he painted; the more he did, the more people were roused towards the church. But Fra's priority was God to whom he had given his heart and soul, his life and love. He never held anything back from God. Such was his dedication.

No one knows when he was born but with his entry to the Dominican Order of friars in 1407, historians have placed his birth year at 1395 and born in Vicchio, near Florence. He took his Holy Orders in 1418 while painting in his early years. Fra was commissioned in 1433 to paint Linaaiuoli Alterpiece that sky-rocked him into fame.

This was followed by the San Marco frescoes and the giant leapt to paint the spectacular deposition. Two years later in 1445 he was summond to Rome to paint the frescoes in the Vatican. His other major works were the Nicholas V. Chapel in Orvieto Cathedral and several paintings of the Annunciation sited in the Monastry of San Marco in Florence, hailed as the world's best classic on this subject. These are found in the upper corridor facing a staircase.

In 1449, he became the Prior of San Domenico and died in Rome in 1455, leaving behind the richest legacy in art for his church. He gave back to God what God gave him.

The angel with the brush

His name may not be as popular as that of Michaelangelo or Leornado de Vinci who lived generations after him and whose paintings received much attention for their meticulously divine recordings of sacred paintings but taken as a whole, all three are brilliantly smart.

Yet, the friar of San Marco, Fra Angelico had his sights differently focussed. He was born to decorate the church both spiritually and artistically and did it with such fervour which was to turn the flagging influence that the church had on its people.

It was a difficult task for a simple friar because he lived at a time that art was not considered as a medium that influenced Christianity and people divided over their belief no matter to what sect they belonged. Came the angel with the brush who would only paint sacred pictures. So devoted was he that his paintings of the crucifix had tears streaming down his face and smudged his work on and off. He would hear the voice of the Lord from a distance.

Nowhere was a man to be found like this friar-artist. God gave him the gift of the brush to proclaim his love to the world for which he sacrificed his life. With that in mind, Fra Angelico painted and from which he could have been a rich man even at his young age and he was already a master at it. But rather he chose to be pious and entered the Dominican Order for peace of mind and salvation for his soul. He allowed the Lord's presence around him. All what he earned, showered by his rich patrons, went to his monastery. He needed no money but the love and blessings of the Lord.

He was free from guile and mankind, holy in every deed, kept himself unspotted from evil and temptations of the world, living in purity and holiness as God commanded.

There was a high scale of demand for his work but Fra's priority lay in the work of God. He entered the Dominic Order of friars as a youth and began his artistic career.

During this era, the virtuostic writer, Vasari who himself was a deeply religious man and concerned with his worldly affairs, portrayed him as a messenger of God. Fra's work attracted the attention of the secular as well as the church at the beginning itself for which he travelled widely to fulfil many of his commissions His early works revealed his move towards the Rennisance ideals that made him a part of the great Italian traditions.

He lived at a time when the role of art was changing to something of appreciation rather than solely for its religious meaning which was the human message of Rennaisance charged towards the favour of Catholic Christianity. He succeeded like no other painter of the Renisance on this theme.

There was a clarity of vision that helped him carry large and complexed scenes with numerous assistance but made sure that all these work was his own.

When he went to Rome to work for Pope Nicholas V he took a whole team but stamped his own identity. He was beyond compare he was marvellous in the talent that God had bestowed upon him.

And finally when he was laid to rest far from the hills of his beloved Tuscany, the Humane poet, Lorenzo Valla carved under his feet at the tomb that read -

Let me not be praised as another Apalles

But because I gave my riches O’ Christ to thy people

For deeds that count on earth are different

From those in heaven'.....

Never or rarely used portrait of the annunciation in possession, shows Mary receiving the Angel with outstretched arms, while crosslegged on the floor. Easily one of Fra's magnificent paintings.

Celebrations of May Feast at the Queen of Angel’s Church, Rawatawatte

The Catholics of the world have dedicated the month of May to the Virgin Mary the Most Pure, the Mother of Jesus. So, the congregation of the Queen of Angels flocked in the church last Sunday (27) of the Floral month of May to pray to the Mother Mary.

As a part of the feast, in Rawatawatte, Mother Mary’s 53 statues were sent from the church to the 9 “Gruha Kottasha” to cover all the houses under the Queen of Angels Church Parish, to keep the Sacred Statue in their homes one night, for the families to pray together. The leader of all houses accepts the statue and places it on a well decorated place with flowers and illuminations to respect the Mother Mary and on the following day, in a procession, the statue is given to another house, by that, by end of May, all Catholic houses get an opportunity to possess the statue in their houses.

Only in the Queen of Angels’ Church in the whole island, one would find the largest number of statues sent around for prayers and on the last Sunday of the month of May, the decorated Mother Mary’s 53 statues were taken into the church in a procession, of which all hearts of Catholics adorn by this activity. This holy event creates unity of all Catholics to feel that they are one.

After all the statues were brought into the church by the congregation in the procession, Parish Priest of the church Rev. Fr. Tyronne Perera with his Assistant Priest Rev. Fr. Kasun Fernando, received the 53 statues and blessed the whole congregation with the Miraculous Statue of Mother Mary as the final episode.

Malathi Perera

Papal message of hope and peace

The promotion of peace is part of the apostolate of the Church. It is based on the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith that God is a god of peace. Before being God's gift to man and a human project in conformity with the divine plan, peace is first of all a basic attribute of God. Through Jesus Christ, God reconciled to himself the estranged mankind and gave us the pledge of peace that Christ alone can give of which the world is incapable.

To achieve peace for all believers proper and strong communication with all peace followers are essential. Some years ago the Holy Father received participants in a congress promoted by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications who have been meeting to reflect upon the identity and mission of communication faculties in Catholic universities.

(Vatican City vis) Quotes the Holy Father as saying: “It is self evident that at the heart of any serious reflection on the nature and purpose of human communications there must be an engagement with questions of truth... the art of communication (even for peace) is by its nature linked to an ethical value to the virtues that are the foundation of morality. In the light of that definition I encourage you as educators to nourish and reward that passion for truth and goodness that is always strong in the young” (unquote).

Pope Benedict XVI exhorted his listeners to promote truth in information, brining our peers to reflect upon events, with the aim of being educators of human beings and builders of a better world. It is also necessary to promote justice and solidarity and at all times to respect the value and dignity of individuals who have the right not to be injured in matters concerning their private life.

There is no announcing of the gospel without painstakingly taking up the missionary task of working for peace and reconciliation. In fact the gospel is the good news of peace. In the light of the above the foundations and the imperative for peace and the work for peace are to be discovered in the word of God, which is the Bible. It is revealed in the history of Israel and later in the story of Jesus and now continues in the work and in the history of the church which is the community of believers who are in communion with God, with one another and with the wider humanity across the variety of world cultures.

Even the smallest Christian community in an outstation of a parish has to grow to be an agent of peace, justice and reconciliation in its own environment characterised as it is in a country like Sri Lanka with its ethnic, religious and social differences. A community engaged in peace work has necessarily be a community with active dialogue at all levels. Beginning from Vatican's diplomatic service and guidance then through the pontifical council for justice and peace, peace work galvanises even the smallest of the Christian communities launched through the pastoral programme of ASIPA.

Thus we become the light and leven of peace in the heart of society, the salt that gives the flavour of peace and harmony sharing and solidarity.

An encyclical letter on Christian Hope is issued by Pope Benedict XVI say that, All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action. Yet if we cannot hope for more than is effectively attainable at any given time or more than is promised by political or economic authorities our lives will soon be without hope. The kingdom of God is always a gift. We have hence to open ourselves to truth, love and for the good, free our life and world from the poisons and contaminations that could destroy the present and the future.

Like action, suffering too is part of our existence. Man cannot be redeemed by science but by love. He needs a love of an unconditional kind. This is discovered in God's love that appeared in Jesus Christ from which nothing can separate us. (Rom 8:38-39). He gives us the certainty and if one is in relation with him who does not die who is life itself and love itself then we are in life. It has to be accepted that anyone who does not know God even though he may entertain all kinds of hope that sustains the whole of life – God.

This however is not individualistic for the love of God leads to participating in justice and generosity of God towards others. Loving God requires an interior freedom from all possessions and all material goods: the love of God is revealed in the responsibility for others. Just a better world cannot be the content of our hope. It has to be God who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow on us what we by ourselves cannot attain.

Peace is as much a fruit of justice and love as war is its lamentable failure. Peace is not merely the absence of war no can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power. The profoundest foundation of peace is based on the dignity of the human person and calls for the establishment of a social order based on justice and charity. Building up this social order is a daily task and will flourish when everyone assumes responsibility in this regard.

The former Pope John Paul II once speaking to the Diplomatic Corps referred to a culture of peace that arises in a climate permeated with harmony and respect for justice. The same Pope spoke strongly against violence which can never be condoned and that it is evil, unacceptable as a solution to problems unworthy of man, a lie militating against the Christian truth of our faith and that of humanity. It's worse contradiction is that it destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life and the freedom of the human beings.

Against the background of social violence we need today the witness of the so-called unarmed prophets who can teach the gravity of the physical and moral risks consequent to having recourse to violence. Through faith in the saving presence of God hope for the world's healing has emerged in history. Paradoxically as far as the external course of history is concerned observes Pope Benedict XVI the power of sin will continue to be a terrible presence. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ who suffered with infinite love. Thus there is a transformation of suffering through the power of hope springing from faith.

Society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through compassion is a cruel and inhuman society.

Christian faith sees meaning in this type of suffering for the sake of and with others in true love. It teaches the noble nature of suffering for truth and justice. With guidance from Papal Rome there is always hope for all who are followers of peace.

The capacity to suffer is the measure of humanity and builds itself up on the kind of hope which saints have exhibited in their lives. In the history of humanity Christianity alone has the merit of bringing forth within man the deeper capacity for many kinds of suffering that are decisive for humanity. For truth, justice and love are no mere ideals but enormously weighty realities.

Miran Perera

Hints: to a mother on Christian marriage

Children are gifts from God sent to parents to uplift,
Guide and, teach
Tomorrows world the right way to reach.

From infancy to childhood to the Mother they cling
Mother, no bother happily up bring.
Teen age sets in – as ladies at large
Into a different category they barge.

A freedom urge – to act on their own – clamour
Very soon a circle of friends they gather
At this stage a mother, not only a mother, should be
A friend, a guide to win the child's confidence you see.

Forgetting all this – as the marriageable age draws nigh
Mother on her own turns busy, plans very high
Houses, wealth lands – in which she rejoice
Forces the dot to agree to her choice.

Sadly the dot walks up the aisle
In deep, deep, thought all the while,
Reluctantly says, ‘I will, I will’
Hugh! In the church all is still

Mother happy – thinks she's done her best
To make her dot richer than the rest
But it's the dot who has to row the boat
Through thick and thin and keep it well afloat

In a Christian Marriage mother must bring to mind
To leave the final say to the dot – thus be so kind
Something more than houses and riches at hand
Are needed for a marriage boat to safely land

Foget not: Paddle they must the marriage boat
Through thick and thin and keep it afloat
Perhaps a storm they got to face
Must be calm, calm and not race

For better or for worse in sickness or in pain
Instill these words into them not in vain
In joy or in sorrow at death must they part
And them to keep it echoing in their heart

Christian Marriage formed by father God
Blessed and raised too Sacrament by Jesus our Lord
A gift to mankind to walk on his way
Thus to reach the heavenly goal some day.

Norma Perera