AND SO THE LIGHT CLEAVES UPON ITSELF

M.G. Michael

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

And there was evening and there was morning, the first day (Gen 1:5)

 

The day descends with predetermined equipoise

on the whetted fin of the emerging night-

neither one nor the other, the day or the night

will falsely move or confuse the harmony

of the primeval antecedents.

No poet's knowledge

of secret consonance or mystical metaphor

could aspire to describe in words of steady stream

this terrible kenosis of the hour-glass-

and so the light cleaves upon itself

in half over the whetted fin

to spread equidistantly

to become the darkness.

 

THE COINCIDENCE OF OPPOSITES

“All things go in pairs, by opposites” Sir 42:24

Ben McKenna SM

 

Rest, at its best, comes after Hard Work

True Relaxation flows from strenuous Exercise.

 

Wisdom and Insight are the fruit of Mental Exertion

Contemplative Stillness is the child of Active Meditation

 

The Person of Prayer is led to Right Action

Right Action leads back to true Prayer

 

Desire to be Free? Then be fully Committed!

For Discipline alone brings Freedom.

 

To Love the Truth is to Hate the False

Yet Compassion, for Transformation, embraces the Tension.

 

Light follows Darkness, and Darkness follows Light,

Both are needed for a full Day.

 

We must live fully in the Present Moment

But always keep our Destination in mind.

 

Our greatest Gift is also our greatest Liability

Our greatest Joy is won by passing through Sorrow.

 

Only those who Struggle will know True Peace

And the Persecuted will be Glad and Rejoice.

 

The Poor have Riches the rich know not of

The Gentle shall own the Earth.

 

The Humble are truly Great

And the great shall be truly humbled.

 

The Last are in fact the First

And the first shall in fact be last.

 

The one who Gives freely shall receive All

The one who gives not shall have taken away

 

Whoever tries to Save their life will lose it

Whoever loses their life will Save it.

 

Divine Weakness is stronger than human strength

God's Foolishness wiser than human wisdom

 

If we acknowledge our human Weakness

Then God will make us Strong.

 

We will be led to be Calmly Active

And Actively Calm.

 

True Wisdom embraces these paradoxes

Enlightenment knows the union of opposites.

 

For the Creator brought forth Beauty from Chaos

And raised His Son from Death to Eternal Life.

 

And the Before of Old, is Now, yet Ever New

Our Hope, our Wisdom, Dawning Ever True.

 

TRINITY

 

For the Son

It is sense and wonder

And

The Father

But For the Son

Cannot measure the love

And

This explorative love –

Father of Son, Son of Father –

Is necessary embrace, is Spirit

And

Like a brash young sea

Wavering between God and Son

Of a sudden it rushes forth

To touch humanity,

And

For those who would believe

A moment

When one can hardly breathe

Unsteadied by the Trinity.

 

Who Shall Live?

Leslie Longworth

 

I went to the Holocaust Museum last Monday.

How could this occur if we have Easter Sunday?

How did man rise to such powerful heights

Yet sink so low as to deny so many a life right?

If you say and do nothing, turn a blind eye –

How many may suffer and sometimes die?

More than 6 million in this case,

Were wiped from earth's face.

Can you shut your eyes and line them up -

Row upon row of skeletal blue and white stripes with only a bowl and cup.

There they stand in freezing rain or boiling sun

Waiting daily to see if they are the one.

Will they be chosen for the oven, experiment or labour –

Which could they possibly most savour!

But life is precious to one and all

And some survived those years of terrible pall.

Why did the few survive you may ask;

Because they had an important task.

They knew they had to let the world know

That should such evil arise again the world must say NO!

NO from the very first whisper of horror

NO yesterday, today and tomorrow.

I believe every living human being

Should visit a Holocaust Museum.

You live in a country wealthy and free

But Germany was once like that you see.

It takes only the few to do nothing for a while

And evil will grow behind a wide smile.

GO --- learn from history's past

Because time flies by so fast.

About the Poets:

Michael George Michael completed his doctorate with the Centre for Early Christian Studies at Australian Catholic University. He is a regular contributor.

Ben McKenna SM is an Australian Tasmanian Marist Missionary, formerly of the Solomon Islands and now in Fiji.

Jack Justice lives in Newport, Kentucky - and possesses a Doctorate in Pharmacy.

Leslie Longworth is a Masters Student at the McAuley Campus of the Australian Catholic University

 

THE ART of PHILLIPE AGIUS

Philippe Agius - Depiction of Padre Pio Receiving the Stigmata

At the age of 57, Artist Agius Philippe is in his 2nd year studying for his BA in Theology at the University of Malta. He has already gained a Doctorate from Arizona University, and is a Fellow of the Insitute of Professional Designers in London.

He was one of the founding members of the National Association for the Visual Arts in Malta (known as IA&A of which he was a director, and which now comes under the Conseil Européen des Artistes financially supporting professional artists, authors and performers presently living in Malta).

Philippe Agius feels that he has a "mission" to help others and through his paintings, mainly depicting scenes from sacred art, he feels that his art glorifies God and the creative spirit. He says: “In the creation of a painting, I pray, and am inspired.”

That becomes his personal motto: “I pray for inspiration and then create, draw and paint, for through my art, I achieve a sense of spiritual meaning which enlightens my heart and allows me to praise God continuously. The use of my creative talents raises my soul to think of God, and praise God as the Creator of all things on earth.”

Philippe Agius has his paintings all over the world, in art galleries and art museums, and he has won various awards particularly in Italy. In 1974, he presented a painting to Cardinal Pellegrino of Turin, Italy and in the same year participated in an exhibition in Rome and the Vatican, receiving from Cardinal J. Benelli a note of gratitude from His Holiness Pope Paul VI expressing his warm appreciation and his good wishes.

That painting depicted Christ above the Coliseum in Rome; His other paintings were equally diverse: a portrayal of St Philip Neri, as well as the popular saint, Rita Cascia as well as a depiction "Christ in the tomb” which hangs near the tomb of the Saint Padre Pio in Foggia, Italy. Padre Pio's life and reception of the stigmata has fascinated Philippe Agius and this painting, depicted here on this site by request of the artist, was presented this year to the Maltese Government to be hung in the main Hospital in Malta.

The painting is five feet high and three feet in width, and is an impressive oil on canvas. It has acted as an inspiration and encouragement to other local artists such as Carlino Gelfo and Lina Vella (from the sister Island of Gozo) to immerse themselves in the depiction of sacred art

In this painting of Padre Pio, we can see him receiving the stigmata on the 20 th of September 1918. The stigmata was visible on his hands, in his side, and on his feet. He received these wounds at the choir of the friary at San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia) Italy. Padre Pio died on the 23 rd September 1968 and was beatified in 1999 and recently elevated to sainthood. Near his tomb one can view a painting of Christ's body by Philippe Agius as well as this present work. Note the depiction of the barking dog near a tree, a symbol of temptation, whilst on the right hand side, one may witness a depiction of a Guardian Angel, full of light, to help him as Padre Pio receives the five wounds of Christ.

The artist sees this as “an emotive painting which enlightens ones heart with joy to praise God for the gifts that were given to Padre Pio, so that we may also be thankful for the myriad of graces that we ourselves receive daily”. Padre Pio is well known for his healing miracles and Philippe Agius, believes that it was through his intercession that he himself was cured when he was 17 years old. Since that time (1965) the artist has had a special and a sincere devotion to Padre Pio. His work is a tribute to the life and holiness of this special saint with the wish that Catholic artists immerse themselves into their vocation of spreading the "logos" the word of God through the talents that they have so abundantly received.

 

Dr Philippe Agius resides at 64, Ursuline Sisters Street, Guardmangia/Pieta Malta and may be reached via email patc@onvol.net

 

 

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