'O my God, grant that I may offer You in a spirit of sacrifice and in Your honor all the thoughts, words and actions of each day, my activity, my very being. I beg that it may all be a sacrifice that will please You, and so make me a perpetual victim of a sacrifice that will be present in every moment of the day.' Charles de Foucauld
Painting: Peter Ilsted, Woman Reading by Candlelight, 1908
Word so soothing for my soul. Thank you...
ReplyDeleteNancy, I just love the art you use to illustrate your posts. Do you have an art background and know what painters to search, or is there some location you go to in order to access the work of this period?
ReplyDeleteBarb, I did begin University as an Art major, and learned enough about composition and color to sometimes know why certain things appeal to me. However, I am finding artists and works I didn't hear of in my studies in the late '60s (not such a peaceful time, and the art and teaching of those days reflected that... I know, I was there... and I was - gasp! - painting then)
DeleteI tend to search by subject, and only where I know things are in public domain. Which is why I use things that are "older," but I generally like many of those anyway. The painting on this post is almost an epitome of what I personally like. I've discovered artists whose work practically takes my breath away.
Thank you so much, Barb!
Nancy, you're posts are speaking to me a lot, right now, and I agree with Barb - your choice of artwork is stunning! I think I'm beginning to understand that spirit of sacrifice, lately, in the context of an offering. I didn't realise how shallow my understanding of this was until God led me to understand the graces offered in return. The feeling of peace, that everything was possible with God, overwhelmed my soul but, immediately, I was locked in the dilemma of making a choice - comfortable old, familiar me or the new, overhauled version. Still trying to work that one out as I struggle to keep upright with one foot in each camp! Hmm....I seem to be rambling, again:-}
ReplyDeleteGod bless, Nancy:-)
Oh Vicky, you must be reading the inside of my head. The struggle between "comfortable old, familiar me or the new, overhauled version..." How many many many years does it take to work that out?! Ah no, you were not rambling. Thank you so much for verbalizing the struggle!
DeleteThanks so much, Colleen.
ReplyDeleteLove the art!
ReplyDeleteThank you; I'm so glad to have found it.
DeleteYikes Nancy! Praying to be a perpetual victim is noble yet terrifying! Wish I was brave enough to pray that prayer and mean it. If I was a perpetual victim offering up sacrifices, my family would be affected which would make it hard to bear. So, I'd chicken out on praying it.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of it quite that way, Noreen! When I think of it as asking for things that MAKE us victims, I can well understand your yikes! I've thought of it more as offering the sacrifices that are naturally just there already... sacrifices like caring for the family when there's sickness, trying not to complain when my toe/leg/back aches, getting up in the middle of the night with a little one.... that sort of thing.
DeleteThanks for a perspective that probably a lot have - maybe they've all fled from this blog in terror :)!!!