Jesus' Easter Game of Hide and Seek‏

Our Tabernacle doors, created by artist John Lajba, depict
the disciples recognizing Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."

    - Hebrews 13:8

Most of Jesus' life on earth is hidden from us, including His Risen Life.

Even now, He is risen and among us but chooses to remain hidden, wrote Caryll Houselander in her book The Risen Christ.

"He is 'the Way'; the Way does not change," Houselander said. "We are helped by this consistency to recognize Him in His hidden life in ourselves."

Like his disciples, we don't always recognize the Risen Lord. But His appearances in Scripture highlight Jesus' gifts to us and give us some clues on how He reveals Himself to us, the author said.

"To the stricken world in the person of Magdalene, compassion: 'Why are you weeping, for Whom are you seeking?'

"To the apostles, His first word, 'Peace!'

"To Thomas, 'Believe' because of the wounds -- 'the courage of faith.'

"To Peter, the wonderful opportunity to affirm His love.

"To the disciples who mourned Him as lost, communion with Him."

Jesus continues his hidden, daily miracles, appearing to us in the breaking of the bread and through many other "unobserved, unguessed miracles of grace, contrition, conversion, hope, forgiveness, love, taking place secretly in the human soul."

He is hidden in everyone, Houselander said, but we must have the eyes of faith to see Him.

 "He may come as a little child, making enormous demands, giving enormous consolation; He may come as a stranger, so that we must give the hospitality to a stranger that we should like to give to Christ; He may come to us in His Passion, disfigured by our sins and all sin, asking the utmost courage of us, that we may not be scandalized and may believe. He may come to us as a servant and compel us to the extreme humility which accepts His service, as Peter had to do, when He washed his feet, and as the disciples did with unquestioning joy, when He cooked their little meal on the seashore."

Perhaps the most difficult place to find the Risen Christ is in ourselves, she said, because we see ourselves as so unworthy. But we all have the means to radiate our Lord to others: "words, a human voice, sympathy, hands to serve."

Remember, the Risen Christ is appearing to us, and "the only condition for finding and recognizing the Risen Christ today is that we love Him: not power, chance, or virtue, but only love."

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

The Return of Mary

You may have noticed that the statues of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus were down for awhile. (Fr. Vitalis was very surprised by it Sunday.)

Artist John Lajba took them to his studio to add some of the same paint colors that are in the crucifix. Since they don't receive the same direct sunlight, the look is a little different. But next time you are near the candle shrines you can take a look and see what you think.



We have a Crucifix

Our crucifix arrived this morning.

It was molded in three pieces. Two of those parts were joined in the studio, but the third could't be added outisde the church, otherwise it wouldn't have fit through the door.

After singing the back as the scultptor, artist John Lajba asked those who were helping put it up to sign it as well.

First the top portion was hoisted and hung.

Then the second piece was attached.

 After the inital try, the bottom portion had

 to be shifted 1/4 of an inch to the left.

 Then John worked with the seam

 so it wouldn't be noticeable.

Just as the work on the crucifix was finished,

 the spotlight on the Rising Christ burned out.

Stations of the Cross are tonight at 7:00.

A Sneak Peek at the Crucifix

Yesterday, most of the painting was done for our new crucifix. Today some detail work continues to create accents within this piece.This picture is from this morning.

Working on the Crucifix

Artist John Lajba is continuing to work on our crucifix. In order to fit it in our door, he has it in two pieces. So much of his work lately has been making certain it will fit together easily once it is brought inside.

 There is wood behind the piece

where the mounting brackets will go.

Today he is remiving imperfections, some by sanding ... 

 ... but most of it is detail work.

As he has been working on this crucifix, John often found himelf thinking about the wounds of Christ. In life we all go through trials and suffering. It is amazing that Jesus was so full of love that he was willing to enter into that suffering with us.

This weekend John will continue to make adjustments, then begin the painting stage.

Our Tabernacle Door's Twin

The Book of Kells is Ireland's greatest national art treasure. It is an illuminated manuscript that presents the Four Gospels in Latin accompanied by a dazzling array of decorative ornamentation, iconography and illustration. It was created by the monks of St. Columbkille's order and it is possible that St. Columbkille himself did some of the work.

Artist John Lajba suggested that one of the images from the Book of Kells be digitally painted onto brass for the chapel side door of our tabernacle.

That was not a simple task. You can't just scan a page from the Book of Kells. So first John had to acquire the best image he could get from Ireland. Then he oversaw the process of digitally enhancing the image to fully bring out the details of the image in the size we needed.

Before this was painted on brass, John did a test page of the same size for approval.

This "test sheet" has been framed and will be offered as an Auction Item at Columb's Ceili on Saturday, March 2nd. It truly is a one of a kind piece.

The Feast of Blessed Fra Angelico

Today is the feast day of Blessed John of Fiesole who received the nickname Fra Angelico (or "Brother Angel) from his peers.

One of his first big projects was in Florence decorating the Dominican Monastery of San Marco. When he was called to Rome in 1445, he left the completion of the works to his assistants. But, before leaving, he completed one of his most beautiful works in a nondescript upstairs cell that may have been his own. It's an Annunciation painted high on the wall against the vaulted ceiling. Not a lavish rendition of the holy event it strikes us as deeply religious in its simplicity instead. Like the man who painted it, the scene can best be described as simply "holy." The angel Gabriel is positioned near the center of the arched composition, enlightening Mary of God's favor while off to the left, in one of several one-point perspective niches, stands Saint Dominic. The effect is that of a vision within a vision as Saint Dominic's prayers conjures up the vision of the angel and Mary and the whole painted scene is that of a vision seen by the occupant of the cell.

This image influenced John Lajba as he sculpted the angels which are on the inside of the sanctuary-side doors of our tabernacle. Their arms are, likewise, in a position of humility.

The image of the angel on the inside of the chapel-side door to our tabernacle is by Fra Angelico.

Previewing the Crucifix.

The crucifix artist John Lajba is working on for our parish is large. So large that he has had a mirror positioned to he can see the whole thing as he works on details.

He began with pieces of foam which he covered with clay and worked to mold that.

While still in the clay stage, Fr. Damian brought some parishioners to look at the work in progress and see what they think of it.

Because of the size/shape, the clay model will be cut into three pieces and a mold created for each of the three.

From those mold we will get three fiberglass pieces. Two of these will be fitted together right away, and the third added in the church. If all three were assembled right away, it wouldn't fit in the door.

Working on a Snow Day

Some may have had today as a snow day, but work continued on the baptismal font ...

... the new storage room ...

... converting the old Usher's/Server's

 Room to hold the elevator ...

... and the new crucifix.

So for some, it was a very busy day.

Preparing the Tabernacle

By gracing Mary as the Immaculate Conception, we understood that God prepared her to be the tabernacle for Christ. As such, today seems like a good time to look at the work for our new tabernacle.

This week Fr. Damian, Fr. Vogel, David Batter, Michelle Grzywa and Deacon David visited John Lajba at his studio where he is working on the doors for the tabernacle. He was working on the clay version. When finished, they will be used to create a mold and then cast into bronze.

The two doors facing the sanctuary will depict a scene from Luke 24:30-31 on Easter Sunday when Cleopas and another disciple recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread. The inside of the doors will have angels on them so that when the doors are open we will see the angels in adoration. John is basing the angels upon the work of Blessed Fra Angelico. Above Fr. Vogel commented on how well John is capturing the sense of perspective Fra Angelico used and how it matches the perspective of the table on the front.

John worked to capture the sense of surprise, wonder and awe on the faces of the disciples. He has one disciple holding a basket of bread. He was tempted to depict her dropping the basket in surprise, but felt that would distract.

 Above John adjusts Jesus's hair to better suit how Fr. Damian thinks it should look.

The chapel side doors will depict an icon from the book of Kells that may have been written by St. Columbkille. Above our guests see an actual size depiction of that door.

The figure above is what John has suggested as an angel for the inside of the chapel side door. This angel was painted by Blessed Fra Angelico.

There was also a side visit to Lambrecht Glass Studio.

Four of the stained glass windows from the previous church will be in the new chapel. They were just finishing work on the last of those. The windows are in very good shape but they were arched at the top. A few pieces have been added to the tops to make them into rectangles.

The wall of glass that will separate the chapel from the sanctuary is completed and on a pallet ready to be delivered and installed. They took one pane out for a preview of how they look.

Everything is coming along well.