Alliance for Catholic Education
Dear Friends,
For this first Sunday of Lent, as we enter the desert with Jesus, we invite God to guide us through earthly temptations, and be with us as we pause and recenter ourselves during this time of prayer, fasting, and resilience.
This season, as we continue to pair art from our partners at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art with prayerful reflections from members of our community, Tim Will, Data Systems Program Manager, for the Alliance for Catholic Education and the Institute for Educational Initiatives, reflects on Almonds, Oysters, Sweets, Chestnuts, and Wine on a Wooden Table.
We hope that this cross-campus partnership offers us all a welcomed space to practice Visio Divina, or sacred seeing, and through the lens of art consider this Lenten season anew. We recommend taking time to visit the Museum in person to encounter and connect to the art in a deeply meaningful way.
May God continue to bless you, your communities, and your families in this holy season of Lent.
~ The Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Alliance for Catholic Education
Follower of Osias Beert the Elder (Flemish, ca. 1580-1624), Oil on panel, 18 ½ x 26 in. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. William L. and Erma M. Travis Endowment for the Decorative Arts, 2020.008
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Reflection offered by Tim Will, Data Systems Program Manager, for the Alliance for Catholic Education and the Institute for Educational Initiatives
This week’s reading, from the Gospel of Mark, provides a sparse version of Jesus’ time in the desert, including his interactions with Satan.
If we were to take a look back at last year’s accounting from the Gospel of Matthew, however, we would read more details of the tempter’s offerings and Christ’s subsequent rebuttals—such as, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Because of our humanity, there are certainly times in our lives when our fortitude fails us and we fall short of Christ’s example from these Gospel passages. Sometimes our focus drifts and we become too enamored with earthly and material pleasures—perhaps even some of the items which can be seen in the painting Almonds, Oysters, Sweets, Chestnuts, and Wine on a Wooden Table.
At first glance, the image boldly features a sumptuous feast—a table laden with oysters, pastries, wines, and various meats. But if you take a closer look, these oysters have a striking resemblance to human skulls, and there appears to be a cross made from the powdered sugar on the pastries. According to our friends at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, these are just a few of the subtle warnings against “self-indulgence, greed, and gluttonous living, and conversely, the need for acts of charity to redeem our sins.”
As we begin this Lenten journey, let us use these preparatory days before Easter to pause and consider these warnings, while at the same time recentering ourselves and renewing our commitment to acts of selfless charity and almsgiving in an effort to—as today's reading prescribes—“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”