Holy Card Heaven: July 2011

It is the Blood
of the Son of God
that opens for us
the door of heaven.
Blot, Paris

The things of earth seem of little account when one possesses the highest good.
Bouasse Lebel

Garden
of the Soul
Happy the state of the heart in which Divine Love reigns. Alone, the pure souls united to Jesus taste the ineffable delights.
Bonamy, Poitiers

St. Martha: Feast Day, July 29

Martha, Martha,
one thing only is needful.
Luke 10:41-42

St. Augustine's sermon
on Martha and Mary

Feast of St. Martha

It is by the virtue
of my blood,
that the heart
is purified
and absolved.
Turgis

The Perfect Gifts
of the
Heart of Jesus
Faith that illumines,
Hope that consoles,
Love that vivifies.
Bouasse Lebel 3005

St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin: Feast Day July 26 / Sts. Joachim and Anne: Feast Day, July 26

The Infancy of Jesus
Philippart

Feast Day of St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin

Joachim: the name means, God prepares

Anne: the name means grace

Honored by both the Church in the East and in the West on this date, Sts. Joachim and Anne are also are celebrated as Protectors of the Carmelite Order.
(My apologies to St. Joachim for not yet having found a holy cared where he is included.)

Flemish engraving
Jesus Maria Anna

The Lord perpetuates
the memory of his wonders
He gives food

to those who fear him.

Source of Life, delicious beverage, you give immortality.

St. Mary Magdeline: Feast Day, July 22

VISIT OF JESUS
to the Penitente soul

Her tears have pierced His Heart, and her iniquity has been drowned in a river of bitterness.
Bouasse Lebel

from ~ small album: The Divine Gardener

St. Mary Magdeline's Feast Day

Precious Blood
of Jesus Christ,
flow over my soul.

Precious Blood of our Redeemer, it is through you that our souls will be saved.
Langlume, Paris

A free e-book to read this month:
The Precious Blood
by Fr. Frederick Faber

The Blessed Eucharist is the Testament of the Heart of Jesus.
Turgis, Paris

F.W. Faber: The Precious Blood Is Living in the Chalice

from ENLARGING THE HEART

FREQUENT COMMUNION
It is through this divine touch that the cold heart comes alive and gradually experiences within itself that which befits the Heart of Jesus.
Letaille 19

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel: OCD Solemnity, July 16

~O.L. of Mt. Carmel~ ~Small Album~

Free Brown Scapular

I am the Fountain of Living Water...
Letaille

Grant, O my God, that my prayer, like a sweet melody, rises to you, so that it draws on all whom I love a merciful glance.

Mme. Bouasse Lebel

From the small album, Prayer Light

He quenches thirst at the Source of graces.

The Blood of Christ hand colored Lejeune

The Blood of Jesus Christ
Lejeune, Paris

The Source of Graces.
Turgis

The blood of Jesus revivifies the earth.

May your Precious Blood purify my soul.

Purify my soul, o Adorable Blood.

Come, partake of the body and blood of the victim immolated for you; come and remember that this death is your life.

Immaculate Heart of Mary: Memorial, July 2, 2011

Feasts of the Sacred Heart and the Most Precious Blood

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You!

The Feast of the Sacred Heart is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday. Because this year's Feast falls on the first day of July, it coincides with the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.

Precious Blood of Jesus, Solemnity, July 1

The staff and hat of the Good Shepherd lean against the life-giving Cross in this illustration of His Precious Blood
springing forth to Eternal Life for
all those for whom He died.

Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29
Serz

small album~
Sacred Heart of Jesus

JULY: Devotion The Precious Blood

Feasts in July:
1. Most Precious Blood of Jesus: (S) July 1

1. Sacred Heart of Jesus (Feast) July 1, 2011

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a movable feast; it depends on the date of Easter. It is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday.

2. Immaculate Heart of Mary (M) July 2. 2011

22. St. Mary Magdeline, Feast Day, 7/22
29. St. Martha: (M) 7/29

Carmelite Feasts in July:
8. Novena begins to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 7/8
11. Anniversary ~ La Bruna:The Virgin of Tenderness, Crowned by Vatican decree, July 11, 1875
16. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, OCD (S) 7/16
20. Elijah the Prophet OCD (M) July 20 (Elijah is Father of the Carmelite Order)
23. Mother of Divine Grace (O.L. of the Bowed Head): OCD Memorial 7/23
26. Sts. Joachim & Anne: OCD (M), 7/26 (Joachim & Anne are Protectors of the Carmelite Order)

SMALL ALBUMS July:
The Precious Blood of Jesus
Living Water
The Divine Gardener

CARMELITE SMALL ALBUMS July:
Elijah the Prophet
Carmel: the Order of the Virgin
La Bruna: The Virgin of Tenderness
Our Lady of the Scapular
Mother of Divine Grace

WELCOME TO HOLY CARD HEAVEN

One of our favorite holy cards says simply, "Heaven is the home of loving souls." In a way, an album of holy cards is like a little heaven; the truth that inspired the cards greets us anew with each tender image, and we feel at home. Little by little I hope to bring together a collection of this gentle faith art for the delight and comfort of any loving soul who happens by.

Ethereal messengers of God's Love and Light, the small engravings that gather here fly in day by day. Little paper shrines that shelter the sacred, they are gathered here in the hope of sharing their beauty and meaning with another generation. To those who love them, they have much to give; like time spent in a restful garden, they are a feast for the eyes and a feast for the soul.

This gentle art can be used today to enter safely into the inner landscape allowing its imagery to guide the soul. Visual poetry employing symbol and metaphor as carriers of meaning, the path to which they invite us is always one in which God's own Love leads the way.

You can click on an image to enlarge it and see the artist's loving attention to detail. It is especially meaningful to be able to see the faces at a higher resolution. In many of the images, the sweetness of expression is at once joyful and serious, and, for a brief moment, we seem to draw close to the Presence of pure goodness, pure happiness.

The blessing I ask for any who come this way is again taken from a favorite holy card: "May a tender Friendship surround you always, and may all your days be a smile of heaven."
Fr. François Fénelon

About the Cards in this Collection

While some are from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands or other parts of Europe, Paris was perhaps the main place of publication. Dates are seldom available but most are from the mid 1800's to the close of that century. The depiction of persons is Eurocentric, but the symbols in the early holy cards are universal and inclusive: the image of the Heart as symbol for the incarnation of divine love, the image of the small bird as a symbol for the human soul eager but fragile and in constant need of God's love and care, the Living Water, the garden enclosed, the door that opens into Light... through visual poetry, the early holy cards continue to speak a language that reaches across the barriers of time and space and can be received by everyone.

Our favorite holy card illustrates the hope we hold as Christians that the door to heaven will be opened to the soul refined by love. It is the refinement of the soul by divine love that the art of the holy cards helps us to contemplate. The card has an engaving of the dove in flight into the mystery of Trinitarian love. The Uncreated Light overlaid by the symbol for the Holy Trinity is at the heart of the card. The writings of the early fathers, as well as those of the the Carmelite saints and Christian mystics throughout the ages - both in the Church in the east and the west - help us to approach the mystery of Trinitarian love not only as the theological underpinning of Christian belief but also as the action of the Spirit of Love in and through which we live and move and have our being.

Scheduling of the Cards and the Small Albums

Holy Card Heaven enters its fourth year on the first Sunday in Advent, December 2, 2012. Day by day the cards will continue to be moved into the new church year depending for their placement on the dates of the movable feasts and seasons. This way no cards need get lost in the distant past, new cards can be added, and we can appreciate the collection a little differently with each passing year.
Small Albums, each with a different topic, will change from month to month and will be linked in the top right column.

Followers