Poem: The Bird Cage of the Infant Jesus

This is a poem by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, a 19th century Catholic figure. Perhaps good to mention that she was a Carmelite nun, otherwise the poem might be harder to understand. God indeed so loved her dear it seems, because she didn't get to be very old, only 24 years old, before she was called back again.

For us, poor exiles from our birth,
God made the pretty little birds;
Among the hills and dales of earth
They sing His praises without words;
But sometimes playful childish hands,
Choosing the ones they like the best,
Keep them in cages, where the bands
Are gilded bars for these oppressed.
O Jesus, little Brother dear!
For us from Heaven didst Thou flee;
Thou knowest well Thy birdcage here
Is Carmel, and Thy birds are we.


Our cage is gilded not at all,
Yet oh! how precious 'tis to me!
To hill or plain from its high wail
Not one of us would wish to flee.
Let not the outer world intrude!
No joy to us it now could bring.
Child Jesus! in our solitude
For Thee, for Thee alone, we sing.
Thy tiny hand has us beguiled;
Thy infant charms no words can tell;
Thy smile, most sweet and Holy Child!

Has won Thy birds to love Thee well.
Here finds the simple, candid soul
The only object of its love;
Here is the vulture's fierce control
No longer dreaded by the dove.
Upon the wings of burning prayer
The ardent heart ascends on high,
As swift the lark doth cleave the air,
With sweet, enraptured, joyful cry.
Here, in Thy praises to engage,
The nightingale and veery came.
O Little Jesus! in Thy cage
Thy birds are carolling Thy Name.
The little bird it always sings,

Nor fear for its small meal doth know;
A grain of wheat contentment brings;
It sows not, spins not, here below.
Within this cage where we have fled,
Is all provided through Thy care;
The one thing needful, Thou hast said,
Is just to love Thee, Child most fair!
So, through the hours, we sing Thy praise,
With glad, pure spirits ever blest.
We know the angels, all the days,
Love Carmel's birds within their nest.
Jesu! Thy bitter tears to dry,
That sinful men have wrung from Thee,

Thy birds to win back souls will try,
By their sweet songs of ecstasy.
One day, when earth and time are o'er,
And Thy clear call to us is given,
Then angel hands shall open the door;
Thy birds shall take their flight to Heaven;
And there, with charming, songful hosts
Of little cherubs glad and gay,
Thy happy birds from Carmel's coasts

Not that this has anything to do with it, but the website where I got this poem from, also included an animated gif rendition of the Infant Jesus of Prague I just couldn't resist including. It's just so... digital!

Spiritual Warfare

This is a game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It looks pretty much like a Legend of Zelda knockoff. It was produced by the legendary Wisdom Tree production company, blowing ever new life into sucky video games, aimed at stimulating Christian kids in their faith or, more likely, offering a Christian alternative to the secular games that gave the parents a good feeling about what they bought for their children and gave the children in turn a poor video game experience. It's another moment where I think: Why? If anyone should be good at making video games, it should be Christians! Such a rich mythology from which to draw inspiration for a good game. They should have been able to make games that made kids amongst each other go "I know it's a Christian game and all, but Goddamn that shit is just too good!" And yet what do they come up with? Knockoff games based on already existing formulas in stead of innovative games that celebrate the rich cultural resources of Christendom. They had the holy grail and they decided not to use it! In a way I am thankful because as much as I appreciate good video games, I appreciate the blundering failures as well of course. My sympathy does go out to you if your parents thought somewhere in the 1980s that getting you a Wisdom Tree game was a good idea. I worry for your soul if today you still agree with them on that!

Might I also draw attention to what the front of that video game might lead you to expect and the crushing disappointment if with this image still upon you, you flick the "on" switch on your console and are greeted with the lameness shown above? Granted, that happened a lot with Nintendo games in those days, be they secular or religious, but still, this one, Spiritual Warfare. Hello, what a title! And with a warrior figure, sword heaved high, ready to mercilessly strike down the many evil spirits, demons, monsters and who knows even Satan himself as a final boss... and then you get this? Again, my Christian brothers and sisters who grew up playing this video game, my sympathy!

I cannot resist including a link to the review of this and some other Wisdom Tree games by an artist in his very own right, the Angry Video Game Nerd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkNvQYiM6bw The good man has a website as well, why not throw that one in too: http://cinemassacre.com/category/avgn/

Father Dowling Mysteries

Another series that I used to watch in the 80s/90s. "Father Frank Dowling is a Catholic priest who continually stumbles over murders, abductions, and other high crimes in his hometown, Chicago, Illinois." (wiki). A lot of mistery solving and not a whole lot of religion going on in Chicago then it seems. Some might argue that this is an improvement and that for once a Catholic figure was actually doing something useful? But let's not talk about that. Let's talk in stead about how hot Sister Stephanie was! There is something proto-Sarah Michelle Gellar about her. The casting of the series was good, there was just something... believable... about the Father Dowling character. By the way, I like the VHS effects in this YouTube video.

Christian Art: Stephen Sawyer

The art of Sawyer is really in a category of its own. He presents a macho, tough-guy image of Christ. Now it's not all that new, it stands in a tradition of what has come to be know as Muscular Christianty. Yet the work of Sawyer somehow surpasses all that came before. In the one of Jesus with a little girl I really think Christ looks like a child molester!

 Round 15

 No Appointment Necessary

 Undefeated

 CALVARY

 Warfare

 Lover of My Soul

Storm Pilot

Please do check out his website for more amazing stuff. http://www.art4god.com

Our Daily Bread Plates

You know folks, it's sorta ironic. Since last month I started a Master's in study of religion, devoting all my time to looking at religious kitsch, and as a result of this, I hardly have time anymore to update my reli-kitsch blog. I'll try and fight it, but I do think I'll have to cut down on frequency a bit. Oh well, so it is. Es muss sein. I think I'll try and average at four posts a week in stead of six.

So enough reflective pondering. Let's talk about good stuff. Like eating your daily bread. Where to put that bread? Why on a fancy daily bread plate of course!

Jesus in a Box

Somewhere, somehow, there exists an assemblable Jesus. I guess he gets disassembled and put back in the box and stored somewhere until it's Sunday again? Back in the box you go Jesus!

Osho

This man was always on the local Amsterdam TV network. It was quite fascinating stuff. I think I've heard him utter more silences than words. You just have to love his rhythm. "consciousneszzzz.... ... ... iszzzz... ... ... ... very........" If you ever want to sound mysterious, just milk the pauses, get everybody nervous feeling like they are falling into a pit until you get to your next word. Except for this rhetorical style, he just seems... like a psychopath. It was either this cult or mass murder. Or well, who knows what is yet to come? And why not combine, isn't that what our economy stimulates? Well, Mr. Chandra Mohan Jain might be a bit too late for that, he died in 1990. Whether he was a mystic or tax fraudeur extraordinaire, a remarkable man was he. Watching the footage of his teaching is like watching Bob Ross!

 He sort of looks like a mix between Santa Claus and Charles Manson.

The example is just a random one, there are many many clips to be found. Also, Osho foundation has a website but... it kinda sucks. http://www.osho.com/

Alpha Course Commercial

If I could ask God one question, it would be why the hell did He allow this crappy commercial to be made.

Amen

"Amen is an American television sitcom produced by Carson Productions that ran from September 27, 1986 to May 11, 1991 on NBC. Set in Sherman Hemsley's real-life hometown of Philadelphia, Amen was starring Hemsley as the deacon of a church and was part of a wave of successful sitcoms on NBC in the 1980s which featured entirely or almost-entirely black casts." (wiki)

Mosque Alarm Clock

Somehow my sister obtained a mosque alarm clock somewhere. Set the alarm and you'll hear the call to prayer, the adhan, at the designated time. Come to think of it now, even though I assumed it was a gimmick, for all I know people actually use it for the purpose of not forgetting when it's time to pray. If the Arabic Christians chime church bells by playing a tape recording of it, then why not this? Whatever the purpose, it's great. And of course, in all my naivety, I thought there was only one type of these clocks. Of course not. There are a lot of them!

Isn't Islam just fááábulous?

I did see this website: http://www.mosqueclock.com. The fact that it exists alone makes me happy. By the way, they so should have called these Allahrm clocks.

Black Jesus

So I've seen an Asian and a Latin-American Jesus, I think it's high time for a black Jesus. I've included some classics, but there are plenty of others and quite breath taking ones at that to be found. All pearls in the hands of God, yes! I particularly love the Walter Sallman's Head of Christ take on the black Jesus. That just, is ode, satire and critique all roled in one without probably trying to be any of those things. Now that, folks, is art!

A great website for this is http://www.blackartdepot.com/blackjesusart.htm

Christian Art: Simon Dewey

Another king of a painter! I saw a lot of his works come by already, also in well known persiflage ways (the one of Jesus sitting with a staff I have seen countless times with the staff substituted for a shotgun). But it's fantastic. Fantastic. The colors, the bright smiles, that Vaseline edge. The... how can I say this... bold denial of evil almost. Oh what glory!

 Shepherd

 Beside Still Waters

 Consider the Lilies

 His Name

 He Lives

Jesus' Birth

Of Such Is the Kingdom of God

Like I always say, this is only a handpick from the bowl of delicious fruits that this artist has brought forth. I wish I could put a website here but unfortunately I couldn't find one. But do look him up on the internet, you'll be doing yourself a favor!

John Brown

John Brown came up in the Dutch classic standard Amerika by Jacques Presser on the United States. Brown was described as a fighter of slavery in the nineteenth century but long before the Civil War. One might say he was ahead of his time. He was also described as a deeply religious man, setting fire to all and each in his way of his Crusade against slavery, all in the name of God's glory. Quite a remarkable figure. In the book there is a picture by Steuart Curry called Tragic Prelude in which Brown is depicted being... at it, let's say. For some reason I can't help but hear him say "ooooohhhh!" in a Paul Roberson kind of way.

By the way, if Brown was fighting battles before 1860 and his opponents were already waving a Confederate flag around like they do in the painting, then they were just about as ahead of their time as Brown.

Islamic Comics: Silver Scorpion

When you don't feel pressured to come up with a clever line to generate interest for a post because the description suffices, then you know you have a good subject. I give you Silver Scorpion, the disabled Muslim superhero!

This picture I got from an article about the comic book that is very good. I'd like to quote most of it just to provide some background of how this seemingly unlikely superhero came about: "An early sketch shows a boy who lost his legs in a landmine accident – he later becomes the Silver Scorpion after discovering he can control metal with his mind. The inspiration for an ‘inclusive’ superhero came from US president Barack Obama’s efforts to reach out to the Muslim world. With that in mind, US philanthropist Jay T Snyder last month flew 12 disabled Americans to meet a group of their Syrian counterparts for a brainstorming session over a comic book script. ‘They helped create something by their combined talents and that becomes a gift to the world,’ said Mr Snyder, founder of the Open Hands initiative. Hamza Jaka, 18, of Fontana, Wisconsin, who has cerebral palsy, said: ‘The trip was great. I am a disabled Muslim and I love comic books, so this is like the highlight of my life.’ Initially, 50,000 Arabic-language comics will be distributed throughout Syria in November and will also be available worldwide online. It will be the first in a series of publications with international superheroes ‘based on the seeds that were created by these kids’, said Liquid Comics boss Sharad Devarajan."

In The Beginning

Some days I don't like myself. Like on the days where you read "in the beginning" as a note you made months ago and now you can't remember for the life of you what that refers to anymore. Okay, let me rephrase my first statement, some days I don't like my former self. He's such a mindless jerk. Anyway, I think I was talking about this pre-animé super cheaply produced animation series that I now found bearing this title. It takes me back to watching sucky animated TV series. It was cheap, stupid, whatever, it moved (even if barely) and it was on my screen, that's pretty much all it takes to satisfy an eight year old.

New Age Music

So every now and again you run into New Age music. I remember in the 1990s there was Oibibio here in Amsterdam, later Oininio, that aimed to be this big spiritual (shopping) center. Sort of a McSpirituality. It didn't last long. They had all types of "spiritual products" there, suited to the people who prided themselves in leading a spiritual (which was often just another word for expensive) lifestyle. They had all these New Age music CDs there (this was still in the era where CDs were the main musical medium), and they were great. They didn't mean anything. It was like, enormous words to describe nothing. Say about that what you want but it was by no means false advertising because that's exactly what the music was. Overproduced and yet unnoticeable. With a little bit of creativity one would be able to give that a mystical twist, although not really in the way that was meant probably. The artwork and titles of the CDs themselves though, are already quite enjoyable. Let me list just a random sample.

Native-American Jesus

After the Chinese Christ, next in line is Native-American Jesus. He was harder to find than I thought though. Here's what I could dig up. There is a lot of grief in the pictures it seems.