|
Connections...
November 19,000
"Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When a branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that (the Son of Man) is near& Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." Mark 13:24-32
The music of a photograph
The legendary photographer Yousuf Karsh remembers photographing the great cellist Pablo Casals. In the memorable potrait, Karsh faces the cellist away from the camera.
"Our rapport was instantaneous& I was so moved on listening to him play Bach I could not, for some moments, attend to photography. I have never photographed anyone else, before or since, facing away from the camera--but it seemed just right."
"Years later when my portrait of Casals taken from the back was on exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I was told that every day an elderly gentleman would come and stand for many minutes in front of it. Full of curiosity at this daily ritual, the curator ventured to tap the old man on the shoulder and gingerly inquired, 'Sir, why do you come here and stand in front of this portrait?' He was met with a withering glance and the admonition, 'Hush, young man, hush--can't you see I am listening to the music!'"
[From Karsh: A Sixty-Year Retrospective. Bulfinch/Little, Brown and Company, 1983,1996.]
CONNECTION: Today's Gospel challenges us to listen beyond mere words, to see beyond the surface, to sense the presence of God in times and places where and when God seems to be absent. To be a man or woman of faith, to be truly centered in the spiritual, is a matter, first, of paying attention to the unmistakable signs of God's presence and love all around us, to realize the hand of God in the least sacred places. The "signs" that Jesus speaks of in today's Gospel are all around us; the "fig tree" grows and flowers in the lives of every one of us. Jesus urges us, with hearts and spirits of faith, to recognize such "signs." Every changing world and passing stage, every pain and triumph, are signs along the journey, guiding us back and pointing us forward to the eternal life of God and the promise of the Resurrection.v
|
|
