| + J.M.J. July 18, 2012 St. Camillus de Lellis Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children! I am calling you to the love of neighbor and love toward the one from whom evil comes to you. In that way with love you will be able to discern the intentions of hearts. Pray and love, dear children! By love you are able to do even that which you think is impossible. Thank you for having responded to my call." (November 7, 1985) I received the most beautiful email yesterday from our friend, Olga, from Moscow. She brought to my attention the most amazing story about World War II, and the power of an image of Our Lady and Jesus for good. It is an example of what Caryll Houselander wrote about in her letter of 1939 that I shared yesterday. Olga wrote: Dear Cathy, Thank you very much for your reflection on Our Lady's message from November 7, 1985, and also for the quotes from the letters of Caryll Houselander. It put me in mind of one icon called "The Stalingrad Madonna" - you can read about it here... maybe you have heard about it already, but if you haven't you can read about it here for instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_Madonna The picture was painted in Stalingrad, Russia, in 1942 by a German pastor and doctor, to comfort the German soldiers... and now it is an icon, it was sanctified by Orthodox and Catholic and Protestant priests and ministers. An amazing story... an amazing person who painted it... not at all a Catholic even. But wasn't his life a source of peace for many around him, didn't he see and witness - with his whole life - a path of reconciliation? With you always, sailing the digital sea... never missing a Rosary, live or in the archives :) LOVE, Olga in Moscow Thank you, Olga, for telling us about this icon. Here is a brief account of the situation of the German soldiers and an excerpt of Dr. Reuber's letter about the creation of his icon: Very many people have heard the tale of the 'Stalingrad Madonna' without perhaps knowing how she came to exist nor who drew her. It happened in the days before Christmas, in the ruins of Stalingrad on which the enemy's shells and bombs were constantly bursting. The dug-out belonging to the Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Kurt Reuber, was divided into two by a hanging blanket. On one side of it Dr. Reuber tended the wounded and the dying; on the other, where were his tiny living and sleeping quarters, he drew a picture for those poor men's celebration of Christmas, the last Christmas that most of them would ever see. He knew that words no longer meant much to them, but that their eyes could still see. And in silence this picture of the Mother, with her child swathed in a white mantle which yet seems to reveal an inner light, entered into his comrade's souls. What Kurt Reuber and his comrades underwent is described in his last letter: "Christmas week has come and gone. It has been a week of watching and waiting, of deliberate resignation and confidence. The days were filled with the noise of battle and there were many wounded to be attended to. I wondered for a long while what I should paint, and in the end I decided on a Madonna, or mother and child. I have turned my hole in the frozen mud into a studio. The space is too small for me to be able to see the picture properly, so I climb on to a stool and look down at it from above, to get the perspective right. Everything is repeatedly knocked over, and my pencils vanish into the mud. There is nothing to lean my big picture of the Madonna against, except a sloping, home-made table past which I can just manage to squeeze. There are no proper materials and I have used a Russian map for paper. But I wish I could tell you how absorbed I have been painting my Madonna, and how much it means to me."
"The picture looks like this: the mother's head and the child's lean toward each other, and a large cloak enfolds them both. It is intended to symbolize 'security' and 'mother love.' I remembered the words of St. John: light, life, and love. What more can I add? I wanted to suggest these three things in the homely and common vision of a mother with her child and the security that they represent. When we opened the 'Christmas Door', as we used to do on other Christmases (only now it was the wooden door of our dug-out), my comrades stood spellbound and reverent, silent before the picture that hung on the clay wall. A lamp was burning on a board stuck into the clay beneath the picture. Our celebrations in the shelter were dominated by this picture, and it was with full hearts that my comrades read the words: light, life and love."
(http://www.feldgrau.com/articles.php?ID=74) This icon (pictured above) is exactly what Caryll was thinking of as an encouragement for the soldiers and people in the middle of the war. She had said: "The other thing I'd like would be to take some hoardings, or anywhere suitable, and put up some religious posters - only the simplest things, no abstract ideas, only things that people, all people, can see and understand. For example, Our Lady with her child, and a prayer to our Mother to look after all her children." Dr. Reuber was inspired to draw Our Lady on Christmas Eve for his doomed comrades, and his drawing has survived to this day as a testament to the love of the Virgin Mary for her children. In the midst of their darkest moment, she was with them to comfort and inspire them, and she will be with us as well. As we face the impending trials of our day, we can learn from Caryll Houselander and Dr. Reuber. With the simplest of images and a message of light, life and love, we can bring hope and comfort to the world. Our Lady of Medjugorje is not just an image, she is with us, truly with us to do just that. May our lives draw people to her presence, and may we spread her image throughout the world. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2012 PS. "Fruit of Medjugorje" - Mary TV's new weekly show, airs tomorrow night, Thursday, July 19, at 8:00 pm EDT. This is the second installment, and it will also be archived for later viewing. Keep up the good work, Mike!! PPS. Dr. Reuber died in a Soviet prisoner of war camp in January of 1944. He continued to encourage his comrades to the end. Truly this is the life of love Our Lady desires. |
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