Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), from his set of four paintings, The Four Freedoms (1934) – Freedom from Want. This set of four paintings was inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address. The President spoke of the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.  Read More

John Foley, SJ – “Come Weal, Come Woe” (1996) – Come rain, come shine, come weal, come woe, Come shepherd's sign in friend or foe   Read More

We pray in the Lord’s Prayer that God not “put us to the test”. See Luke 11:  Read More

Genesis 11 (NJB): Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they cannot understand one another.’ Yahweh scattered them thence all over the world, and they stopped building the city.* That is why it was called Babel, since there Yahweh confusedd the language of the whole world, and from there Yahweh scattered them all over the world.   Read More

Luke 12 (NJB): But God said to him, “Fool. This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?” So it is when someone stores up treasure for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God.’   Read More

Christ in a Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633) by Rembrandt (1606-1669), held in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.   Read More

St. Jerome and the Two Angels (early 17th century) by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi [del Crescenzi] (Viterbo, 1590 - Rome, 1625).  Read More

John 1 (NJB): So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So he said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord. Make his paths straight’   Read More

Nicodemus Visiting Jesus at Night (1899, John 3:1-21) by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), found at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. John 3 (NJB): ‘In all truth I tell you, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence. If you do not believe me when I speak to you about earthly things, how will you believe me when I speak to you ...  Read More

Dirck van Delen (1604/5-1671) – “Church Interior with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican of Luke 18:9-14 (1653)”, in the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.   Read More

John 1:35-41. The painting/illustration by James Tissot remembers the call before the call of Jesus’ first disciples. What do we mean? Unlike other “callings” of disciples, these first two were not called by Jesus. Instead, they pursued Jesus as Jesus walked again along the bank of the Jordan River (see it there in the painting?), walking by the spot where on the previous day John had baptized Him.  Read More

Woman At the Well (esp. John 4:13-14) by Crystal Close - Oil on canvas; 36"x48"; 2016 “To Converse” The Oxford English Dictionary at “to converse” – 1. - 1340–1727 - † intransitive. To move about, have one's being, live, dwell in (on, upon) a place, among (with) people, etc. Obsolete.  Read More