Holy Card Heaven: January 2012

St. John Bosco: Memorial, January 31

St. John Bosco's Feast Day
St. John Bosco
Quotations

I am the conqueror of hearts.

I want to plant my Cross there.

Bouasse Lebel

Nothing is sweeter after having received Jesus than to give and spread everywhere the fragrance of his virtues. ~ St. Francis de Sales.

What have I in heaven and what can I love upon earth, but Thee, O my God, the God of my heart.

Mary is the link that unites us to Jesus.

FAITHFUL GUARDIAN I will attract all to myself by the watchful care of my kindness.
Bouasse Lebel 1099

My Beloved is Mine and I am His

If I possessed the sweetness and the gentleness of the dove, surely I would give more happiness to Your Heart.

Small Album ~ Doves and the Christ Child

The Livery of Jesus

Whoever calls on the Name of Jesus will be saved.

Wentzel

Mary Mother of the Savior

Dopter

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Help us ever to lead a pure and blameless life.
Bouasse Lebel, Paris pl. 1119

The Perfect Gifts of the Heart of Jesus

Faith that illumines, Hope that consoles, Love that vivifies.

Bouasse Lebel 3005

ALONE WITH GOD

At the foot of the Cross in the livery of Mary. O, the sweet retreat!

Bouasse Lebel 1761

And a little Child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6

O, Jesus, I will keep Thy words in my heart.
Bouasse-Lebel 3574

LOVE FOR LOVE
It is the whole law of Jesus.

Small album~Heart Speaks to heart

IF YOU LOVE ME IMITATE ME.
Bouasse-Lebel 788

Healing of the Paralytic

Our parish priest, Fr. Lawrence, this morning looked to St. Augustine for his beautiful interpretation of the Gospel reading.
He explained that the paralytic was carried by four friends, and lowered down to the feet of Jesus: 4 is the number of man, of man's effort. The paralyzed man was carried to the Lord to be made whole: 3 is the number for God. Three plus four equals seven. 7 is the number for perfection ~ of wholeness and healing.
Father closed his homily by asking us to pray that our human nature may be humbly lowered and placed at the feet of Jesus where God's healing power is made manifest.

THE CARESSES OF JESUS - Love and keep for a friend the one who does not leave you when all abandon you. Bouasse Lebel 1015

SHE IS MY MOTHER!!

I have chosen her to dispense all my favors and share my power.

Bouasse Lebel 776

For You, my God, all for You.
Bouasse Lebel, Paris Pl. 788

The Child Jesus
Fonteney et Peltier

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Help us ever to lead a pure and blameless life.
Bouasse Lebel, Paris pl. 1119

Mother of the Savior
Dopter

First Friday

THE MITE OF THE POOR.

There is no need of rich presents to please Jesus;

a pure heart will delight Him.

Bouasse Lebel 1087

Holy Name of Jesus: Feast Day, January 3

Small album ~
The Holy Name of Jesus

SEE, BELIEVE, AND LOVE.
Lamarche pl. 111

It is good on His Heart!
Let us live holy lives that we may rest there one day.
Bouasse Lebel 936

Small album~
Mary Mother of God

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year
PEACE
God bless you
Chas Von de Vyvere-Petyl Bruges, Belgium

And on earth PEACE.

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.

St. John Bosco: Memorial, January 31

Healing of the Paralytic

First Friday

Holy Name of Jesus: Feast Day, January 3

Happy New Year!

Followers