Reading
Matthew 6:19-21
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Devotion
This week's painting is by Irish artist Patrick Tuohy (1894-1930). February 1, earlier this week was the feast day of Saint Brigid. This particular painting, perhaps the last painting Tuohy completed, dates from 1930 and resides at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, Ireland. The Feast of St. Brigid falls on the pre-Christian feast of Imbolc, about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Prominent folklorist Seán Ó Súilleabháin wrote: "The main significance of the Feast of St. Brigid would seem to be that it was a Christianisation of one of the focal points of the agricultural year in Ireland, the starting point of preparations for the spring sowing".
I love Tuohy's rendering of Brigid. Brigid is a leader. She commands respect even in the shadows of challenging times, represented by the thorny shadows of the background. She appears in red reminding me of the red flannel St. Brigid mantles to which are ascribed healing attributes. She appears stern of expression or perhaps determined, looking at something or someone we cannot see. She holds in one hand a staff--we can't see the top of it, but in other renderings by other artists it is a crozier, of the same ilk as that used by an abbot...or a bishop! In her other hands she holds a holy book, perhaps a Celtic psalter. She holds the book close to her heart.
The combination of love and discipline in leadership is what I take away this time praying with this painting. What do you see, dear reader? Do you perhaps find yourself in an 'in between time'? Or perhaps someone you know is? Perhaps Brigid may provide a hint of how to pray and care in in-between times.
Prayer
O God, whose servant Brigid, kindled with the flame of your love, became a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Lesser Feasts and Fasts)