My Latest Projects

Before I pack up my tools and leave Sewanee, I had several wood projects that needed to be finished for some friends.  I wish my high school taught "shop class."  This new prayer discipline really took off this year and it seems with each project, I see a marked improvement in my technique.  Still, I know I have a lot to learn about woodwork.  

I created a simple, working pattern for what I call "book desks."  These are great for writing papers, sermons, etc.  They are made from pine which is very easy to work with, though the staining is somewhat tricky.  For seminarians, I have been burning the Saint Luke's cross into the wood as a center piece.

I have now built a few of these "prayer benches" which are modeled after the pattern found in Martin Smith's (former SSJE) seminal work, The Word is Very Near You: A Guide to Praying with Scripture. (Cambridge: Cowley Publications, 1989).  These are great for contemplative prayer.  I've also burned the Saint Luke's cross in the center.  I've used poplar since these require support.

The "Saint Luke's Cross" is the official cross of the School of Theology, Luke being the patron of our community.  Why it's Celtic, I have no idea.  A metal, pectoral version is presented to all graduates during Commencement.  I'll have mine in two days!  These are wall crosses done in pine.

Finally, I am excited to begin work on my summer project, an icon crucifix.  This is a Western-style San Damiano but written in the Byzantine tradition--I really like blending the two.  I went ahead and cut the wood and prepared the icon board so that I don't have to fiddle with it once moved.  This will be my first crucifixion scene.  I wanted to make this large so as to inhabit a chapel one day.

This is what I'm after here.  This icon cross is found in the lower church of the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.  When I first saw it there I knew that I wanted the challenge in trying my hand at writing one.  We'll see...

I guess you really can do anything with an Masters of Divinity degree!

May is for Mary

Lady Month, or the month of May is especially marked by catholics with devotion to the God-Bearer (Theotokos).  May 31st, after all, is the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin to her cousin Elizabeth whereby Luke recalls that famous ave and the glorious Magnificat (Luke 1:39-57).  Later this month in Walsingham, the National Pilgrimage will be held.  May is the month of Mary.

There is an old catholic tradition of building and maintaining a "May altar" dedicated to Our Lady throughout the month of May.  The photographs of these May Altars come from the home of my brother, Fr. Robert-James, OPC.  The following excerpt comes from the webpages of The Marian Library/The International Marian Research Institute in Dayton, OH.

To the specific characteristics of the May devotion is to be counted the specially set up May altar - be it as an addition to or specially decorated altar in the church or as a "house altar" in the family circle. Like the May devotions themselves, the custom to highlight this type of May altar stems from southern European countries. A report from France in 1842 speaks of Our Lady's altar in May showing off in rich splendor, while the families also erected and decorated small home altars. 

All of nature awakened to new life in springtime is presented to honor Mary, who is herself "a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys" (Song of Songs 2,1). This form of devotion was influence and furthered, for example, in Treatise on True Devotion to Mary by Louis de Montfort, who, among other things, counted the decoration of Marian altars a chief exercise of Marian devotion.

The development of "home altars" seems to have naturally grown from churches specially dedicating altars within the worship space to Our Lady.  The above citation continues:

When erecting a May altar in a church, one distinguishes between the special decoration of an existing Marian altar, the erection of an altar set up specifically to serve this May devotion, or the transformation of the main altar into a May altar. The Handbook of Church Rituals (Regensburg 1846) notes under May altar that these devotions be held at an altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and decorated "to the full." If there isn't any [altar dedicated to Mary], another  altar is to be set up and furnished with a picture or a statue of Mary.  In Strasbourg, in 1855 for the first time, a special "Mother of God altar" was set up before the chancel.

With the development of May altars in churches, the custom spread to set up this type of "altar" also  in the home. The authors of both private publications and of official publications refer to this practice, encourage them, or assume that there are such.  While some devotional books encourage the user to decorate an image of Mary found there and to pray there--a custom "that belongs anyway in every good Catholic home"--others depict the "prayer room" as "a shrine dedicated to Mary." 

A side altar of this type was drawn into the celebration in that the blessing frequently was given from this altar. By carrying the Blessed Sacrament from the main altar, the precedence of the main altar was clearly visible. 

Pick some flowers, find an icon or statue, and light a candle.  Place Mary as the "spiritual fireplace" of your home this month.  Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us all!   

A New Walsingham Icon

Today I received my new icon of Our Lady of Walsingham.  I had commissioned this through an iconographer that I discovered in Bulgaria via the internet.  Not only was the price reasonable, but the quality is simply amazing.  I have much to aspire to in my own iconography.  The iconographer, Krasimir Kostov, does excellent work and I commend him to you.  If you would like his email address, drop me a line.

In this icon, I wanted to blend together two of my favorite icon depictions of Our Lady--namely the checkered floor which struck me as both odd and out of place.  But it grew on me over time!  The size is large, 12in. x 15in. and the colors are brilliant.  I hope to have the icon properly blessed soon.

A Newman Prayer

O Jesus,

flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly

that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me and be so in me

that every soul I come in contact with may

feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me 

but only thee, Jesus.  Amen.

This is an abbreviated version of Cardinal Newman's prayer that he used following the Eucharist.  I learned about this prayer while in the sacristy at the seminary, it was fancied by one of our more Anglo-Catholic professors.