Winter 2003 Within the past year or so two interesting pieces of art have been put on display in Washington, D.C. and they show the two Carmelite saints, St. John of the Cross and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Statue in Avila, similar in style to the one  now in the National Gallery, Washington. The Washington Post's Sunday Art Section for October 19, 2003 announced that the National Gallery (nicknamed the "Mellon Art Gallery") has purchased a beautiful statue of Saint John of the Cross. Bought for a sum perhaps "in the $1 million range," the polychrome, or painted wood statue, is now on display "for several months." As the art gallery has not really featured statuary to a large degree the columnist who wrote the article pointed out what a ground-breaking event this has been to obtain and display the image of the first Discalced friar of Saint Teresa's reform in its prestigious collection close to the U.S. Capitol (at 6th Street and Independence Avenue). Saint John of the Cross loved to praise God for the beauty of our world. He enjoyed especially the colors of the great outdoors and sometimes sent his students to meditate on the hillsides. The following passage from his Spiritual Canticle, strophe 5,4 attests to his appreciation for the beauty of all things summed up in Christ: Not only by looking at them did He communicate natural being and graces, as we said, but also, with this image of His Son alone, he clothed them in beauty by imparting to them supernatural being. This he did when he took on our human nature and elevated it to the beauty of God, and consequently all creatures, since in human nature He was united with them all. Accordingly the Son of God proclaimed "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will elevate all things to myself." (Jn 12:32) And in this elevation of all things through the Incarnation of His son and through the glory of His resurrection according to the flesh, not only did the Father beautify creatures partially, but, can we say, clothed them entirely in beauty and dignity. The second image is a painting of St. Thérèse by her blood-sister Céline or Sr. Geneviève of the Holy Face, the one to whom we owe all the photographs of "the greatest saint of modern times." Céline's painting now hangs in the chapel of the John Paul II Cultural Center across the street from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. (See their website at www.jp2cc.org) (With the kind authorization of the Cultural Center we reproduce here the canvas done and signed by Céline in 1907). reproduction of painting At the inauguration of the painting the Chairman of ICS gave a presentation of the history of the painting and a brief appreciation of its spiritual content. The iconography betrays some interesting symbols. Among them is a harp. Although Thérèse is not known to have had a very refined voice she showed great devotion for St. Cecilia, and the harp has been used as a symbol of the musical-martyr saint so admired by the latest Doctor of the Church. Thérèse's posture is emphasized, as well. Fr. Sullivan saw in this a parallel to the pose of David in Michelangelo's famous statue in Florence's Accademia. The painting may be viewed simply by entering the chapel in the Cultural Center during a visit. Our tape editor, Fr. Regis Jordan, has introduced a new format for some of the conferences/lectures seen in our catalogue. From now on they will be available in both cassette tape format and in CD/Rom. Fr. Regis had been noticing the greater frequency of use by people like commuters who now have CD/Rom players installed in their cars. Over time we will be watching to see if we, trying to ride the wave of the future, are in fact witnessing a shift away from tape cassettes to discs. Your feed-back is much appreciated as we try to base our efforts to serve the public on indicators arising outside our offices. Watch for CD links under the "Tapes for Sale" section on this website for signs of the new CD/Roms on our lists as they are developed. (This might mean that some slower-selling cassettes will simply bow out, since sales indicate we have had them available long enough to reach many people interested in them.)