Holy Card Heaven: June 2012

CARITAS

God is Love.

He who keeps charity abideth in God, and God in him.

Sts.Peter and Paul: Solemnity, June 29

St. Paul
God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 6:14

Link to St. Paul

Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

Learn from Me for I am gentle and humble of heart,

and you will find rest for your soul.

Gladbach

Learn from me
for I am gentle
and humble of heart,

and you will find rest
for your souls.
Matthew 11:29

Serz

THE REFUGE OF THE DOVE

I wish to hide you in my Heart, faithful soul, my good friend.

L. Turgis

They are hungry.

Bouasse Lebel, Pl. 1473

THE DIVINE ARBOR
It is I who take care of you.
Bouasse Lebel

Solemnity of St. John the Baptist: June 24

There is much to contemplate in this image of the Baptist:

The Baptist, depicted as a living bridge, presents Christ, true God and true man, to the waiting world. His eyes are cast down to direct attention away from himself to his Saviour.

Jesus, as he begins His ministry, looks to the Father, seeking His will in all He must do in the work of Redemption...

The Light of Christ informs and regenerates creation...

Mirrored in both the swan floating serenely on the waters of death and also in the rock from which the all-powerful waters of regeneration spring, Christ embraces the dove, symbol of the soul entrusted to His care.

THE SOURCE
Full of grace and gentleness,
the child Jesus has given
drink to his small precursor.
In Heaven, happy conqueror,
I will get drunk on glory
at the source of his Heart.

St. John the Baptist, June 14

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

FOR ALL IS THE
HEART OF JESUS OPEN

Resting Place in the Wild

The Heart of Jesus is a place of peace for the poor wanderer through this life.

L. Turgis 589

The Perfect Gifts of the Heart of Jesus

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

Bouasse Lebel 3005

RETURNING TO JESUS
You have lighted my
heart, O, my God,
it traveled...
it is Yours.
Turgis

O. HEART OF MY GOD
always open to receive souls,

receive me,
that I am one with you at last.

Bouasse Jeune

There

in recollection

and solitude

in the Heart of Jesus
I lose myself.

hand painted

My God, receive me into your Divine Heart.
Bouasse Lebel

REFUGE OF THE DOVE

I wish to hide you in my Heart, faithful soul, my good friend.

L. Turgis

Immaculate Heart of Mary (M) June 16, 2012

Holy Heart of Mary

FAITHFUL FRIEND
Bouasse Lebel

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Bouasse Lebel 3000

St. Anthony of Padua, June 13

About
St. Anthony of Padua
Petithenri, Paris

To rest on your heart, O Jesus. is all my happiness

The love of Jesus for us
equals its power.
Bouasse Lebel 1035

Take and eat, this is my body.

Take and drink, this is my blood.

My Sweet Jesus, I give You my heart.

Feast of Corpus Christi ~ June 10, 2012

This is My Body
BREAD OF HEAVEN
Support my strength to do good.
Bouasse Lebel 3350

Small Album:
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

St. Joseph,
Protector of Carmel

Sacred Heart of the Child Jesus with St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church.

The Source of Graces.
Turgis

Poor frozen soul, from the cold breath of the world
come and warm up at the Heart of Jesus.

LOVE FOR LOVE

That is the whole law of Jesus.

The door to Heaven will be opened to the Christian soul who has been purified by Love.

Small album:

The Most Holy Trinity

Divine Heart of Jesus, save us!
Sweet Heart of Jesus, be my love!

Trinity Sunday, June 3, 2012

"JESUS' LOVE GIVES US ALL A HEART AND A REASON"
"And they were all from One Heart and Will."
Flemish engraving Cornelius de Boudt (1660-1735)
Link to thoughts on the mystical symbolism in this image

"One is the
signature of God."
~ Fr. Lawrence Vadakkan

Let us offer
to the Divine Heart
a Crown of
Love and Praise

Turgis

First Friday

The Heart,
Furnace of love where man becomes angel,

is the eternal flame that illuminates the heavens.

Santin 317

June Devotion: Sacred Heart of Jesus

Feasts in June:
3 -Trinity Sunday (S)
10 - Corpus Christi (S)
13 - St. Anthony of Padua (M)
15- Sacred Heart of Jesus (S) (celebrated 19 days after Pentecost )
16- Immaculate Heart of Mary (M) June 16, 2012
24 - Nativity of St. John the Baptist (S)
29 - Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles (S)
Small Albums for June

Green: Movable Feast

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