Our society suffers from a deprivation of true beauty. This may sound strange to say in a culture that is so visual and becoming more so by each passing day but this is exactly the crux of the matter. We are glutted with false beauty and deprived of true beauty. 24/7 images are thrown at us purporting to represent true beauty, but in fact they do not. Our souls are left famished. False beauty empties the soul just as it promises to bring fulfillment. (It can be compared to that sick-in-the-gut feeling left over after having downed a bag of potato chips when you could have had an apple instead.)

Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true! (Lk. 1:45)

Luke tells us that immediately after hearing Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth, filled with holy spirit, correctly interprets the movement of joy of the child in her own womb and asks, “How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” (Lk. 1:43) Here in this one short verse is found a rich testament to the insight of faith. Elizabeth gives witness to the lordship of Mary’s child before Mary even has a chance to say a word regarding her own pregnancy.

The icon speaks of the possibility of peace but it also instructs that true peace can only be achieved in the willingness to encounter the other.

I have altered the icon from the original, not intentionally though. In the original icon – on Elizabeth’s left arm that embraces Mary there is a red sleeve. I did not notice this in the original image I copied from and left the sleeve out. Now Elizabeth’s arm is bare – the sleeve pushed up. I like this though. We “roll up” our sleeves when we are busy, when we have work to do. I can imagine Elizabeth busy about the work of the day when Mary arrives. Immediately this work is left behind as Elizabeth embraces her cousin in welcome!

“… the most important tree in the desert is the tree of genealogy. Every tribe is a tree, and man in the desert defines himself as a branch of the tree. … The branch cannot have life without the tree nor the tree without roots or the stable foundation in time. … Man is therefore man only by reason of his genealogy.” (Professor Wael Farouq – professor of Arabic at the American University in Cairo – quoted by Archbishop Migliori, “Catholicism and Islam: Points of Convergence and Divergence”, Origins, Vol. 37, No. 26)

The first step in applying the colors for an icon is to paint the darker, base colors. From this base you then “build up” – adding lighter shades in order to bring depth and movement to the image.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once offered these words of reflection,

Despite the fact that all to often people see in the church a power opposed to any change, in fact, the church preserves a powerful ideal which urges people toward the summits and opens their eyes as to their own destiny. From the hot spots of Africa to the black areas of Alabama, I have seen men and women rising and shaking off their chains. They have just discovered they were God’s children, and that, as God’s children, it was impossible to enslave them.

The church preserves a powerful ideal which urges people toward the summits… When we are Church at its best we realize that this ideal is neither of our own making nor of our crafting. We neither own nor control this message, in fact, as its servants we realize that we have been entrusted with it solely in order to be good and wise stewards (of whom there will be an accounting one day). This ideal – the proclamation of being sons and daughters of God – is not a hope invented but rather a hope received.

John the Baptist throughout his life and proclamation knew this distinction and it was based on this awareness that he condemned the religious authorities of his day who lived on the illusion of controlling the way to righteousness. John knew the source of the Kingdom – it did not lie within the control of the religious establishment nor did it lie within himself and his own charisma – it lay within God’s action and God’s movement. The Kingdom was grounded in God’s prerogative. “I baptize with water … the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire…”

The season of Advent invites us to recognize the true source of the “ideal” that we hold and proclaim as Church. It is not a hope invented but a hope received. If it were invented then we would be the most pitiable of people. God has chosen to move specifically within human history. God has come to us. Only in the realization of this amazing truth is it possible to sing, “Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.”

The recognition of hope received though does not lessen the responsibility on our part as Church. Isaiah’s prophecy and description of the Anointed One also contains within it our mission as Church as well. As we receive; we are to proclaim. As we know; we are to live.

They had just discovered they were God’s children, and that, as God’s children, it was impossible to enslave them.

Hope received, not invented, is the Advent proclamation and it is the source of the beauty of peace.

I have seen men and women rising and shaking off their chains – they discovered that they were God’s children.

Some people have asked about the use of the term “write” in relation to the drawing and painting of an icon.

The scene portrayed is actually quite common. It is nothing really extraordinary – two friends embracing. The spectacle is repeated each day in a thousand different ways and contexts. It happens at airports, in driveways, at parties – to mention just a few contexts. In fact the occurrence is so common as often to be overlooked and passed over by the bystander.