Father Michael Collins

Meditations for Lent

The New York Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in

the Vatican Museums

2022
New York Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums

THE
JOURNEY
THROUGH
LENT
Fr. Michael Collins begins a
Lenten Calendar, inspirational
daily reflections on a masterpiece
of art
 Ash Wednesday March
2nd 2022

Meditation 1

Lent is a wonderful season. There is something cathartic about the forty- day period of
purgation which precedes Easter. In the Mass of Ash Wednesday which opens the season
we read about Jesus’ injunction to do alms and not parade around dressed in precious
garments. We mark our foreheads with ash from palms burned after last year’s Easter
Sunday. The Hosannas turned rapidly into calls for Jesus’ death.

At the beginning of Lent I recall the apocryphal story of the priest’s housekeeper who, in
the days following the Second Vatican Council, was asked to assist with the distribution of
ashes. As the pastor broke into his stride along the altar rails, he muttered an
indecipherable formula while he daubed the foreheads of the penitents with dark ash.
Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem revertertis- “remember man that you are dust and
unto dust you will return.” Not to be outdone, the good lady followed his example, and
recited her own version armed with her bowl of ashes. “If it does you no good, it will do
you no harm.”

Each year for Lent I choose an object or image which accompanies me through the
preparation for Easter. One year it was a spool of thread, another time was an old broken
wrist watch and last year it was a pebble from the beach, worn smooth by the waves. In
some way, each object gives me something to think about. And I understand that each year
my time left grows shorter.
This year, I chose a postcard that I bought when I was about 16. It is a reproduction of two
hands joined in prayer, etched by the German artist, Albrecht Dürer. The hands are neatly
drawn in pen and ink on blue paper with a little white highlight. On the reverse runs the
sentence “ Praying Hands of an Apostle: Dürer 1508, Albertina Library, Vienna.” When I
looked up the history of the piece, I learned that this was but one sketch of dozens the
artist made while preparing for a large altarpiece.

If hands could talk they would tell extraordinary tales, but of course that is not their
function. I have always had a fascination for hands. At its most basic, the hand is a
mechanical part of the body on which we rely for so much. Our vocabulary re ects the
myriad of functions of which the hand is capable. We grasp, clasp, grip, tip, smack, caress,
throw, catch and drop with our hands. At a deeper level, the hand expresses what is in the
mind as it is guided and animated by the brain.

My earliest memory of my mother’s hands are her welcome touch. I’ve no recall of her
changing nappies and doing all the things that a parent is required to do, but I recall her
caresses, the way she would wipe away tears and hug me.

fl
My father had wonderful hands and I was very much in awe of all that he could do. He
played golf, shed, played snooker and billiards as well as darts. In his early days he also
played cricket and tennis. He was a particularly talented jazz pianist and had a magically
light touch. I recall one time he was playing a mournful version of “Moonriver,” made
popular by Andy Williams. My mother put her head around the door to say that she was
going out for a few hours. Imperceptibly the tune changed into “Happy Days are Here
Again.”

Dürer’s hands are lightly joined in a prayerful attitude. The story goes that Abrecht and his
brother were both talented but there was only enough money for one to train at an art
school. Albrecht went to study while his brother Albert worked in a mine. After four years
Albrecht returned and offered to pay for his brother to go to study. Albert declined,
protesting that several years of labour had damaged his hands irreparably. Albrecht then
undertook to pay his brother’s expenses for the rest of his life.

Whether the story is true or not is irrelevant. I have told it at countless school retreats over
the years and it always resonates with young people’s hearts. It elicits stories of their own. A
few years ago, the story inspired some pupils to run a “ I Lent a Hand” whereby the young
people raised a huge amount of money for charity by packing bags in the supermarket,
doing odd-jobs in the area, washing windows and cleaning up gardens
fi
We use the word hands in countless ways. We speak of giving a hand- out
to a person in need or of an item being handy. We talk of a safe pair of hands
and caution that the devil makes mischief for idle hands. We have our hands
full and yet also hand things on. The word “sinister” comes from the
word for left handed and yet signi es suspicion. The Scriptures speak of
lifting hands in prayer. Jesus advised that if a hand makes one stumble, it
is better to cut it off. He also admonished that when we give alms, our
left hand should not know what our right hand is doing. In the early
church, those with a public ministry were commissioned with the laying-
on of hands.

Dürer’s masterly engraving will give us pause for thought and

undoubtedly guide our hands this Lent for good.
fi
 Prayer

Lord, I come to start my annual journey

to Easter. Take my hand and lead me
along the path. Guard me, shield me,
strengthen me so that I may reach out to
others

Thursday 3rd March 2022

Meditation 2
 At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days
and forty nights and afterwards was hungry

Around the age of 30, Jesus began a period during which he taught His disciples about
God. Over the period of three years, He revealed more of himself and astonished
people not only by the authority of His teaching but by extraordinary miracles which
de ed human explanation. As He won admirers, He gathered a group around Him to
whom He entrusted the task of building up a “spiritual kingdom.”

Jesus prepared with a period of 40 days in the desert. Much of Palestine and Israel is
made up of rocky terrain, so it was not dif cult to nd an area to be alone. But the
Gospels record that Jesus was immediately assailed by Satan, who wished to divert
Him from His mission.

Often when we set our minds to achieve a new purpose we nd a myriad of

distractions. The early days of Lent are a good
fi
fi
fi
fi
example. It is not easy to change habits. We have much to do and rarely can fit our
obligations into the time at our disposal. These days of Lent allow us join with Jesus in
that effort. As for Him, so for us, it will require discipline. There will always be a stone at
our feet.
Kramskoy was born in Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh
Governate in the old Russian Empire. A member
of the Orthodox Church, Kramskoy painted a
number of canvases depicting Jesus.

The monumental canvas, measuring 6x7 ft,

shows Jesus seated on some boulders in the
desert. The artist used cold colours both for the
setting and the gure of Jesus. The sky indicates
early morning, and we see Jesus lost in thought
and prayer. The discomfort of the scene for the
viewer is highlighted by the broken stones.
What most catches our attention is the pensive
face of Jesus, wistful and forlorn. He has come
to the moment where he must make a choice, to
either continue His life as a carpenter, or
embrace the mission for which he was born

Christ in the Desert@Ivan Kramskoy (1837-87)

at the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
fi
 I ask the members of the Church to remember particularly those suffering
the tragic deserti cation of their lands, and those who in too many parts of
the world are lacking that basic yet vital good which is water.
We are concerned to see the desert expanding to lands which only
yesterday were prosperous and fertile. When people do not respect
the goods of the earth, when they abuse them, they act unjustly,
even criminally, because for many of their brothers and sisters their
actions result in poverty and death.
fi
We are deeply worried to see that entire peoples, millions of
human beings, have been reduced to destitution and are
suffering from hunger and disease because they lack drinking
water. In fact, hunger and many diseases are closely linked to
drought and water pollution. In places where rain is rare or
the sources of water dry up, life becomes more fragile; it fades
away to the point of disappearing. Immense areas of Africa
are experiencing this scourge, but it is also present in certain
areas of Latin America and Australia. ( Pope St. John Paul II,
from Lenten Letter 1993)