Last Supper and the Mass presented for children

The Mass setting for the felt dolls with altar.

Some may remember my posting last year, where I showed how I made a felt doll set of apostles, Our Lady and the Holy Spirit for children to interact with in a catechesis setting.  If you did not see it, here is the link to my tutorial.  You can see below a photo of what I made.

To see closer detail, click on images to enlarge.

Felt apostle dolls with Holy Spirit and tongues of fire

So what this posting is about is the 'home' and 'setting' made for these dolls. The dolls were to be presented in a Last Supper or Pentecost setting (both being in the Upper Room) and then also a Mass setting (I'm yet to make the priest doll).

The Last Supper setting with Last Supper Table.

The first photo above is the completed Mass setting, that features the back wall of a church, with stained glass windows, statues and in the centre is the altar.

The photo just above is of the Last Supper setting, with three open windows looking out onto the Garden of Olives and the Jerusalem wall and Temple.  In the centre is the Last Supper Table.  The Apostles and Our Lord can be placed around the table for a re-enactment of the Last Supper.  It also can be used for the Pentecost scene, which took place in the Upper Room as well.  

This was not hard to make, it was not expensive.  I used 3 MDF boards (very cheap) and 2 metres or so of wood and a little bit of square doweling, some nails, a saw.  Other essentials include pencil, rubber, ruler, tracing paper and school acrylic paints.

 The picture you see above is the back wall, on one side I painted the Church scene, then I flipped it over and painted the Last Supper scene.  The back wall panel buts in between two strips of square doweling wood, that were nailed side by side length-wise at the back of the floor area, the spacing between the two pieces of doweling is the exact thickness of the MDF board, so it fits in firmly and does not move.  When you are packing the display up, you can take the back wall out all together.  Have a look at the photo below, you will see the square doweling at the base of the wall, I have painted it with 'stone brickwork' to disguise it's functional purpose.

The photo above is also a good shot to see how I made the altar/Last Supper Table, as they are one and same thing.  On one side I have painted a 'IHS' motif that you would often find on a Church altar.  On the other side, it is plain, so that it just looks like a wooden table.  The altar was made from left over MDF board, it features as the top of the table and the base.  In between the two pieces of MDF board is three pieces of wood, two are the same size, the third is slightly smaller, no really reason for that, just it gives a nicer appearance. The three pieces of wood were placed together (smaller piece in the middle) and then I nailed the MDF board on top of the 3 pieces and then flipped up side down, and nailed the MDF board base.  I painted it mission brown and then painted the IHS motif on the Church altar side.  The photo below features the altar side, front on.

The next seven photos, feature the painting of the Church side, back wall. What I did, was do an internet search on stained glass windows and Church statues.  I found a lovely Holy Spirit window image, saved it to my computer.  Then I found a lovely image of a set of 3 stained glass windows which featured the Crucifixion.  Then I found an image of a St Therese statue and St Francis Xavier, two Australian patrons, which often see in many Churches throughout Australia.

Here is a nice close up of the Holy Spirit/Trinity stained glass window, this one I drew free hand and painted it with simple, school acrylic paints.

Here is a close of the St Francis Xavier statue, with the statues, I printed up the images to the size I wanted to draw and paint them, but I mirror flipped them before printing.  The reason for mirror flipping was because I wanted to trace the statues and put onto the board that way, less chance of mistakes.  Then I painted them both to look like they were stone statues.

Here is the close up of St Therese of Lisieux.

You can see how I've drawn and painted the stone brickwork around everything, I used three different shades of grey.

When it came to the three stained glass windows set, I free hand drew the windows, the only thing I traced was the Crucifixion scene.  I changed a few little things here and there, in fact, I printed up two different stained glass windows, using the motifs out of the one and using the colour scheme and glass patterning, from the other.

  

A photo of the all the stained glass windows.

All finished, and ready to start on the reverse side ~ the Last Supper scene is next.

  

Here is the three windows looking out onto the Garden of Olives, the Jerusalem wall and Solomon's Temple rising above the walls.  I just did an image search of the Mount of Olives and came up with a photo that looked like what you see here.  Of course, the modern photo featured the muslim Dome of the Rock where you see Solomon's Temple in this picture!  So I did a search on what Solomon's Temple was supposed to have looked like and drew the top of it, where would normally be today, the Dome of the Rock.  You can see pencil pines and the olive trees in the forefront, laden with olives. 

In this photo you can get an idea of how I built the base.  It featured two big pieces of MDF board.  So I took the MDF board base, and nailed timber around the two sides and the front, I set them back from the edge by about a couple of cms (inch or so).  Then I nailed the top MDF board on top, which was to be painted as the stone floor.  The back side did not have a strip of timber nailed along it, as I wanted to use it as an opening to place the felt dolls for storage.  I used some left over MDF board to make a sliding door.  In this photo you can also see the second strip of square doweling, that holds the back wall firmly in place on the base.

 So, here they are finished and ready for use!  It is solid and very eye catching for children, hopefully for many years of use ahead in a catechesis/atrium setting.

My new photos picture frame for the wall

(Click on this photo to enlarge it for a better look...as well as any of the photos below.)

I was shopping the other day and came across a hugh framed portraiture gallery for the wall. (This image you see above has not been put back into the black frame. You have all these fabulous pre-cut photo spaces. Since I wanted to have a collection of family photos all in one place in the house I thought this was the way to go.

I have a special love of black and white photos, especially the old fashioned ones that use to be slightly coloured in the 60's and 70's. I mention this special love of mine in a recent posting on my portraiture artwork that was inspired by these old photos.

So I thought I'd collect all my photos on the computer I wanted to put in the frame, I put them individually into Paint Shop Pro and turned them all into black and white images and printed them up onto quality card paper. (no gloss like a photo)

I then chose some to colour in varying degrees with coloured pencils, the effect is just like the old photos of long ago! Some stayed black and white, others just slightly coloured in feature area of that photo, some coloured lightly all over, it was a great effect when you looked at all the photos together in the frame.

This was cheap and very effective, here are some of the photos featured that I'll talk about below:

This photo I coloured heavily, the boys were in blue and girls in pink (as they were in the orginal coloured photo) they were photograped with a backdrop of grass and a smattering of purple flowers that had fallen to the ground from a tree above them. So I lightly coloured the grass and the individual flowers.

In this shot, my girl dressed as st therese, the photos stays in black and white except for the posy of flowers she holds. My dh's mother has her lips and cheeks very, very subtlely coloured.

In this shot dh's photo stays black and white but baby Anna who was in a hot pink jump suit that day, has her outfit and her hair coloured, this one looks really great! My photo with baby Anna stays black and white.

In this shot my dear uncle who passed away last year, has only his lorikeet coloured, in it's usual, vivid colours! The group shot next door stays black and white.

In this shot, my old childhood photo has been coloured, the water in the bucket and spilled to the ground, my typical 70's leary patterned swimmer bottoms and the slight touch of lemon in my hair which was blonde as a child. My ds next to it stayed black and white in his photo.

In this shot, my mother and ds have a beautiful backdrop of hedges blooming with little blue flowers like forget-me-nots. So I coloured the flower heads only and mum's top. The photo next to it stayed black and white.

My 'Little Miss Cheeky' was heavily coloured, right down to the delicate flower pattern on her dress.

And look at her here! The photo stays black and white except for the butterfly stickers, this just looks fabulous in the gallery!

These two sisters are in delicate pink..little Anna's delicate flower pattern has been carefully coloured in pink and green sprays. They have those beautiful flowers behind them, this time I coloured the greenery as well as the cornflower blue flowers.

My dh's father was coloured in his photo, my dd's confirmation photo was not.

This one is stunning. My sister and her husband's photo stays black and white except for the gorgeous bouganvilla bush to the side that was in full bloom! Beautiful sprays of burgandy pink which you can see that I've coloured in a dusky muted pink! this shot doesn't do this particular image and it's coloured effects justice IMO.

Lastly my two sons above sitting in a rock cave with lovely rocky textures around them, and their clothes slightly coloured. My dh's photo stays black and white (a younger dh, BTW!) I asked ds aged 4 who this person was and he said that he was my oldest son aged 14. I said, "no, guess again." He paused for a few seconds and said, "a man" he didn't recognise his father when he was in his early 20's.

I believe that this is a lovely gift giving idea. You could buy a pre packaged photo frame with just a few pre-cut photo spaces or even one and do something like this. I'm sure it would be a well loved gift! I intend to do this on a smaller scale for some family birthdays coming up this month..

Look what I found today

Scrolling through old photos today and I found this one. It brings back lots of memories. My husband and I worked on this together just before we were married. We did alot of pastel portraits together then, which we usually sold, but we gave this one to my mother.

We had an unusual partnership. My husband excelled at the basic sketch and loved putting in the first layer of colour, he liked the rough but acurate line or pastel work, it was his forte.

I was not fussed on drawing the basic sketch but loved building the basic sketch up with fine detail. I don't like putting on the first layer of pastel but relish bringing the base pastel work to life. Dh doesn't have patience for doing my work and I never had patience for doing his! We complimented each other perfectly. I relied on his wonderful accuracy. He relied on my life-like finishes. We did traditional pastel work together.

Then we stopped. We had a family and didn't have that time to work together.

A portrait of my three oldest children, transformed into angels, which went on the cover of a Catholic CD dedicated to angels.

Then in the year 2000 I resumed by myself, with a totally different style of pastel work. It was a style that allowed me to at least escape the tedious build up of heavy pastels. It was a style inspired by my great love of old black and white photos that in the 70's were touched up with colour.

This was a style where I used Schmincke Pastels a brand of pastel that is particularly soft, if you drop it, it's shattered! I worked primarily with two colours, a grey with a slight reddish hue and white. I also had a deep blush colour, a blue and a brown. Those three colours were to create the 'colour on black and white' look. I used charcoal pencils to give more definition to the orginal sketch. I used a grey, texture paper with a redish hue to it.

So I draw the picture and then I pull out....some very small, fine paintbrushes. Yes, paintbrushes! I gently rub the paintbrush onto the end of the soft pastel stick and apply the pastel onto the paper in that manner. It creates a lovely translucent look.

My husband was my greatest praise, my toughest critic, I love him for it.

This is my great grandmother, I was commission to do this by a second cousin, it's funny working on a photo of someone where you are saying to yourself, "There's such and such's nose, there so and so's jawline!"

This portrait and a touch of colour, Max had beautiful blue eyes and lovely ruddy cheeks, a touch of colour in his lips. Unfortunately I photographed this in black and white!

My uncle. He was Australian through and through! When we had this framed for my cousin, we found a great piece of old timber with paint peeling off and had a frame built from that, it looked great!

My sister. The photo I worked on was taken in an old, stone church with light filtering through across her face. It was lovely capturing the light patterns of her face. This was another one I photographed in black and white. The orginal painting has her in a crimson dress and crimson lips, everything else is black and white, an interesting contrast.

Well, that was a nice walk down memory lane... I haven't done a portrait in a few years now, beading has sort of taken it's place at present. I hope to get back into it again one day, probably to do a matching 'angels' portrait of my three youngest children.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Over at The Castle of the Immaculate, Helen has suggested a week of posts dedicated to the Immaculate Heart. I had wanted to come back an post a picture of the matching Immaculate Heart to my great grandfather’s unique Sacred Heart and so it is a perfect opportunity to do the two together..

The trouble is I’ve got a virus at present with wicked headaches and I can’t think too straight to write much but I found a beautiful article on the Immaculate Heart of Mary over at Theotokos which I was so thoroughly enjoyed, I thought I would post the article here for you to enjoy as well.




But I do have a few things to say...When I was designing the Immaculate Heart to match the Sacred Heart, it was easy to draw the heart symbolizing the Immaculate Heart of Mary but the scroll required a bit more thought. I needed to write a similar phrase to the Sacred Heart’s “The Heart that is never strange or cold...The Love that is ever new and old” After praying for help I came up with this phrase that describes Mary’s Heart: “How tender Thy love for the human race...Thy Motherly Heart in the fullness of grace.” The scroll was surrounded by Myosotis (blue forget-me-nots) or “Our Lady’s Eyes”

When I look at the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I hear the echo of her motherly words to Juan Diego, “I am your merciful mother, the mother of all of you...of all mankind, of all those who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who seek me, of those who have confidence in me...I will hear their weeping, their sorrow, and will remedy and alleviate their suffering, necessities and misfortunes.”

Then this beautiful discourse continues again to us when Our Mother says, “Listen and be sure...that I will protect you; do not be frightened or grieve, or let your heart be dismayed, however great the illness may be that you speak of. Am I not hear? I, who am your Mother, and is not my help a refuge? Am I not of your kind? ...Is there anything else that you need?”

My heart is deeply affected by these words, I cannot help but to cry every time I read them...I have a piece of my own father’s heart, he cried at beautiful things. But tell me, is there anything more beautiful than those words? When I look at the Immaculate Heart of Mary I see a refuge to ALL things, without fail - to all life’s needs, in good and bad and in the times of joy and in times of sorrow and trial. I pray that Mary gives me a piece of her heart when I open my eyes each day and look upon the blessings entrusted to my care.

Here is the article over at Theotokos:

The link between devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart of Jesus is shown in the following passage:

"...a short time after Pascal had carried out the first experiments in modern physics and Descartes had perfected the mathematical instruments which would make possible the development of the sciences, Jesus appeared to an obscure nun and, showing her his heart, said to her: 'This is the heart that has so loved men.'

"Then, as men did not listen to the message of Paray-le-Monial and the corruption of the world continued, the Virgin Mary appeared to the children at Fatima; she showed them her heart and said: 'The Lord wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. If what I say is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.'
"The remedy that God offers for the evils of the world is to show us his heart and that of his Mother. 'We have learned to recognize the love God has in our regard, to recognize it, and make it our belief,' said St John (I John 4.16).

"The Christian solution to the problem and desperate call of the world will always be to believe in love, to give ourselves up to it and so receive the will and the strength to serve others." (Fr Henri Marduel, "The Christian Pursuit," London, Burns & Oates, 1964, p. 22).
Historically, devotion to the Heart of Mary grew up in parallel, but at a lesser pitch than that of devotion to the Heart of Jesus, only starting to become more prominent during the time of St John Eudes. Even then it was not until after the Apparitions at Rue du Bac concerning the "Miraculous Medal" made to Catherine Labouré in 1830, and the establishment of a society dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, at the Church of Our Lady of Victories in Paris in 1836, that this particular devotion became really well known.

Since then devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, has gradually grown more widespread in the Church, particularly since the apparitions at Fatima.

The main difference between these two devotions is that the one concerned with Jesus emphasises his divine heart as being full of love for mankind, but with this love for the most part being ignored or rejected, while devotion to Mary's heart is essentially concerned with the love that her heart has for Jesus, for God.

It is not an end in itself, and really the love of her heart is meant to be a model for the way we should love God. So as in all things Marian, she leads us closer to God, rather than becoming an obstacle in our way. The fact that her heart is immaculate, that is sinless, means that she is the only fully human person who is able to really love God in the way that he should be loved.
Honouring Mary's Immaculate Heart is really just another way of honouring Mary as the person who was chosen to be the Mother of God, recognising her extraordinary holiness and the immense love she bestowed on Jesus as his mother, the person who was called to share in and co-operate in his redemptive sufferings.

The whole aim of this devotion is to unite mankind to God through Mary's heart, and this process involves the ideas of consecration and reparation. A person is consecrated to Mary's Immaculate Heart as a way of being completely devoted to God. This involves a total gift of self, something only ultimately possible with reference to God; but Mary is our intermediary in this process of consecration.

There have been some criticisms of the whole idea of "consecration" to Mary, with some arguing that it is improper to speak in such terms, since it obscures the essential consecration to God. This position, though, seems to go against the traditional approach as exemplified by St Louis de Montfort, one that has been essentially accepted and acted upon by Pius XII and John Paul II in the twentieth century.

If it was unacceptable to consecrate the world to Mary's Immaculate Heart then obviously the above popes would not have done so. To criticise the principle of Marian consecration is also to lose sight of the central reality of the various Marian apparitions, that they concern Mary rather than Jesus.

If Jesus had only wanted a consecration to his own Sacred Heart, then clearly he, rather than Mary, would have appeared repeatedly over the last several centuries. The fact that it is Mary who has appeared in so many places, and that the Church at its highest level has accepted this, indicates that Mary's role is central and that consecration to her is not illogical, providing it is clearly understood that "belonging to Mary is a privileged means of belonging to Christ."

In reality because of the strong analogy between Jesus and Mary, the consecration to Mary's Immaculate Heart is closely linked to the consecration to Jesus' Sacred Heart, although it is subordinate and dependent on it. That is, although the act of consecration is ultimately addressed to God, it is an act that is made through Mary.

This point is also illustrated by the strongly Christocentric nature of both the 1982 and 1984 acts of Consecration made by Pope John Paul II. Because Mary is so closely linked to Christ, and because she is mankind's spiritual mother, he felt fully justified in carrying out the act of consecration to her Immaculate Heart. The Pope referred to Jesus' words of self-consecration during the Last Supper, as found in St John's Gospel: "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth."

Here the word sanctify has the meaning of "consecrate oneself to God," and Jesus' self-consecration to the Father is taken as the model for the way that we too should be consecrated to God. This is to be accomplished by a consecration to Mary, since she is wholly consecrated to her Son. By joining with her we join with Jesus, based on the way that she united herself with Jesus' sufferings on the cross in the most intimate manner possible.
Mary holds her position as intermediary in the process of consecration by reason of her dignity as Mother of God and her role as spiritual mother of all Christians. Because love and devotion shown to Mary are referred by her to God, it follows that acts of reparation for sin directed to her also apply to God, especially when we consider how closely united the hearts of Jesus and Mary were and are.

The theme of the need for reparation for sin, which is very prominent in the various Marian apparitions, has remained central to the preaching of Christianity from the time of the Apostles onwards: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt 3:2).

The idea of making reparation, both for our own sins and, because of a common membership of the mystical body of Christ, for those of others, is only an extension of this basic Gospel message, a message that continues to be valid. As St Paul said: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church ..." (Col 1:24).

Sources: John F. Murphy, "The Immaculate Heart," in Mariology, Vol. 3; The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. VII, s.v. "Heart of Mary;" Calkins, Totus Tuus.

One Man's Faith in the Sacred Heart

In my last posting I mentioned that something special had happened to my great grandfather and his treasured Sacred Heart image that you can see above, well here is the story:

A young married man about 27 years of age, who lived with his wife in Yarrawonga, made a visit to his local doctor, because he was very ill. He was medically examined and was told by his doctor he had TB on his lung and would or could only live about 6 months. This was in the early 1920’s and there was definitely no cure for this complaint, at this time. The young couple were very distressed by this report and they turned to God for help and direction.

The patient had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart. In his home he had a picture of the Sacred Heart that hung on the wall at the foot of his bed. The picture was of a heart encircled by a crown of thorns and flames, flames of burning love. One night while deep in prayer and gazing upon the picture an amazing transformation took place in the picture. The heart began to beat and the flame encircling the heart began to move and flicker. A voice invaded his consciousness and told him that although he would have much to suffer, he would live.

The patient then asked the doctor to give him a referral to a doctor who worked in Melbourne, whom they both knew. This doctor also confirmed the local doctor’s opinion that it was TB, but he decided to keep the patient in Melbourne to watch his condition and placed him on an open verandah of a hospital.

What was thought by two medical men to be TB (and in the 1920’s, there was no known cure) – on the specialist’s probing and examination of these 9 spots he had marked, he found dead Hydatids. The Hydatid was thought to be caused by the serum given to the patient for TB, or it was possibly caused through handling rabbits. Hydatid was a disease carried by rabbits. The specialist and his medical friend were very convinced it was the consistent trust and faith, that this young couple had in God’s help, that the specialist had been given help to find the answer he was looking for.

This young man was only 6 stone in weight and very black and weak. But after major surgery on the lung, ribs, etc. and with tender loving care, he lived to the age of 83 years. He spent many hours of praise and thanksgiving to his good Lord, for the help he was given in all those years, as well as raising a family of 9 children. The operation left him with a hole in his back that required bathing and dressing for many years. For all of his trials and afflictions he had a ready humour and any suffering or personal inconveniences were never seen in his countenance.

In 1932 he lost his dear wife in giving birth to their ninth child. (Aunty Mary) Hers was an unselfish love. She had been warned that in her state of health she would place her life in jeopardy by bearing another child. Acknowledging the risks, she went ahead and became pregnant. The last six months of her confinement she spent in bed. She died shortly after giving birth. Later in life he married again. He often joked to his grandchildren that he could breathe through the hole in his back while having his head in a bucket of water.

The trimmings at the end of his rosary were legendary. The trimmings provided for all the people he prayed for individually and the invocation of the saints to strengthen the faith of all his children and the children’s children. As a child when visiting grandpa and it was rosary time. We would all kneel down and listen to him dispensing the decades with a love and devotion that can only come from a person who has a deep and personal relationship with his God. The children were dispensed from the trimmings, as he well understood the attention span of the young.

(This was written by one of John Joseph Mullin’s grandchildren after hearing the full story from his second wife.)

John Joseph Mullins

The Month of the Sacred Heart

We have entered the month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A beautiful season to honor Our Lord’s Heart. The Sacred Heart that was formed in the hidden depths of Mary’s pure womb. This Heart that would have physically beat in rhythm and unity with the Immaculate Heart that would have been like heavenly music to His ears. Her Immaculate Heart pumped the blood, with the needed nutrients, in the forming of this Sacred Heart. It is truly a profound thought to ponder on. The Creator allowing Himself to be knit from the smallest atom by His most chosen creature, His mother, that He created! It is a love of such intimacy that it would bring any mother who has carried precious life within, to tears.

As mothers we know that it is more than just supplying the sustaining nutrients via the placenta that we contribute in the formation of our children. We know that the emotional state and well being of the mother can affect the baby. I can look at the child of my most peaceful pregnancy and see a very calm and peaceful child. I have one of my precious children who is a little more highly strung than the others and it was a pregnancy where I was involved with on-going counseling outside the home of someone who was in deep distress, hearing a lot of pain and anguish on a daily basis...There is definitely more than the physical involved in the development of a child.

Then there is the spiritual aspect. We pray for our babies from the moment we know they are within. I like to particularly think that when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion that our child is also nourished in some spiritual way through this Divine communication. The importance of receiving pre-natal blessings, being blessed with relics, the use of sacramentals are all important to baby. At present I bless myself and baby with the Holy Oil of Loreto each morning.

So when we think of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we hear the ‘echo’ of Mary in His heartbeat.

I think these realities should also explain to us WHY Our Lady had to be created by God, "Immaculate" and without sin. Our Lady needed a Saviour, but Christ used the graces from the cross to save her in the most perfect manner possible. That is why we see Mary as the masterpiece of His creation AND of His redemption. When we honor Our Lady we are honoring God in a way that pleases Him greatly because Mary's glories are the beautiful manifestation of God's grace, never rejected. Therefore we should acknowledge, rejoice and praise God's own handiwork.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a tradition in my father’s family that goes back to my knowledge, to his grandfather – my great grandfather, John Joseph Mullins. When my nanna passed away, we were given the enormous Sacred Heart picture that my great grandfather had bought (which would have been very expensive in its day.) I hope to show this beautiful image on the feast of the Sacred Heart later this month.

But there was also another picture of the Sacred Heart that my great grandfather treasured. A smaller picture, that was always by his bedside for as long as anyone could remember. There is a special story that I hope to share later, in regard to this picture. I have no memory ever seeing this picture in the flesh, my great grandfather died when I was very young. My nanna’s youngest sister, Aunty Mary, is the only still living child, and she has this image. She sent me a black/white photocopy of it with a listing of the colours for everything on the image, many years ago. I re-drew this beautiful and rare image (I also did a few drawings for other relatives) and we have ours hanging in our lounge, above our altar, along side a matching Immaculate Heart I designed from the original Sacred Heart.

I have never seen a Sacred Heart like this image. My great aunt does not know the origins of this particular image either. Has anyone ever seen it? I have searched extensively on the internet in years gone by and never found it. There is a beautiful caption written in the scroll,

“The Heart that is never strange or cold,
The Lobe that is ever new and old.”

This is written in a very old, fancy font and when I questioned my great aunt Mary about ‘the Lobe’ she says it clearly looks like a ‘b’ but I have a feeling that ‘v’ can sometimes look like a ‘b’ in some scripts. A lobe is a word associated with the liver not the heart...I wonder if it really reads, “The Love that is ever new and old.” I have drawn mine exactly as the original and so I suppose it is up to private interpretation, and I say myself, "Love". Though I would love anyone’s thoughts on this, on how they think it should read, knowing more on scripts or this expression... These beautiful words echo St Augustine's famous cry, "Late have I love Thee, Oh Beauty, ever ancient and ever new."


My great grandfather had a special prayer that he recited everyday in front of this image,

Though I ask for a long, long time, still I ask of Thee,
Oh, Sacred Heart of Jesus once more to plead for me
To Thine Eternal Father, for a great favour.
I place it in the centre of Thy broken bleeding Heart,
When covered with the crimson cloak of Thy most
Precious Blood, They Eternal Father cannot refuse
To hear, ot my prayer, but Thine.
Jesus Christ my God and my Redeemer,
I trust in Thee, in Thy Heart – in spite of all –
And forever. Amen.

What I do remember is my dear nanna, lovingly reciting this prayer of her father’s. This dear great grandfather instilled a deep love and devotion in his children for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. May it never be neglected in his generations to come, to the end of time. That would be a legacy to give him great joy.