ruah arts group

Happy Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva!

This painting is done by Sr. AnneMarie Heyne, who is currently a novice with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Florence, Italy. If you would like to support her vocation and promote the sacred arts, consider purchasing her paintings. Contact me at ruahfellowship@gmail.com if you’re interested.

For more on St. Josemaria:

• Short biography, links and the collect for the day
• St. Josemaria’s works for free online

Happy Feast Day, artists! Especially if your work tends toward the Liturgical and Devotional Art end of things, because today, you may know, is the feast of St. John of Damascus, or St. John Damascene, Doctor of Christian Art. Monsignor gave a great homily today on St. John, telling us about his heroic defense of holy images against iconoclasm, which should be a reminder to us all to have holy images around us. We don’t have to look like a walking Leaflet Missal Catalogue, either, but the use of sacred images is tremendously important. Do you know how to defend the Church’s teaching on images to Protestants or Muslims?

Though I’m posting this in the evening, here are some ideas for celebrating this feast day–h/t to Catholic Culture for the links:

• Pray for a renewal of the sacred liturgy and the liturgical arts, and make a donation to organizations that specifically promote renewal in sacred liturgy and arts
• Read about his life and writings
• Learn about the value of sacramentals
• Place an icon of St. John in a prominent place with a votive candle