The mission of The Fra Angelico Institute for Sacred Art is to deepen the prayer life of Roman Catholics by evangelizing the truth, goodness, and beauty of God through education and the prayerful creation of sacred art.
Okay, we have reached Wednesday, the supposed day that if we can just get through it we will be on the downward slide toward the weekend.
In an attempt to put a little pick-me-up in your afternoon I ask you to put aside your pencils, pens, and paint brushes and take 4 minutes and 9 seconds to listen to a “Dude Rocks Out Amazing Grace on the Piano.”
The “Dude” in the green jacket and rose colored glasses is Terry Miles. He is an accomplished pianist, yet, this day he sits down to a public piano in a London train station and puts a little joy into peoples’ hearts.
The song starts out as usual and then slowly, with a little flutter, breaks into Terry’s personal interpretation; but, then at approximately 1 minute 20 seconds into the piece, he takes off! The style is called “Boogie Woogie;” and believe it or not, it is one of my favorite types of music from my teen age years.
Click on the red or blue site address below (which gives a short description), click on the red and white arrow (depending on how it loads, at the top or bottom of the page), and enjoy!!
I hope I linked it correctly. If it doesn’t pop up for you use the address below in your search engine. For those unfamiliar with searching YouTube – enter youtube.com for “Terry Miles Amazing Grace” in your search box, click on it, and it should pop-up for you.
“And only where God is seen does life truly begin.
Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is.
We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution.
Each of us is the result of a thought of God.
Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.
There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.
There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.”
The above was written by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
If I may add just a few lines inspired by his thoughts:
There is nothing more beautiful than to become aware of what Jesus sacrificed for us in order to make us members of His family.
There is nothing more beautiful than when we repent of our sins, implore His mercy, and amend our lives, in love for Him.
There is nothing more beautiful than an innocent child in their mother’s womb and being cared for by a loving parent(s).
A relevant theme: as Americans, regardless of religious creed, we need to remember the sixty million nine hundred and ninety-six thousand, nine hundred and ninety-four abortions, that is, the murder of 60 million, 996 thousand, 994 innocent children, that have been surgically murdered since the Roe vs, Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1/22/1973. This number does notinclude those abortions that have been chemically induced. The estimate for chemically induced abortions in the United States is approximately 250 million children.
In the United States today one abortion is performed every 20 seconds.
World statistics, which began being tabulated in 1980, total: 1,522,353,500. murdered children.
In the world today one abortion is surgically performed every second.
The source for these statistics is a non partisan reproductive health and family planning organization known as the Guttmacher Institute. These statistics, tabulated minute-by-minute, can be found at: http://www.numberofabortions.com
What can Americans do? Those that are against abortion can do three things: physically protest by legally, prayerfully, and peacefully demonstrating in front of abortion clinics and through legal and peaceful mass demonstrations. Catholic Americans that are unable to do so because of age, employment, or health concerns can prayerfully say the Holy Rosary every day. The Rosary can be found on-line by just entering the title – Holy Land Rosary. This will take you to a number of sites, some contain music, others such as the one (which I find very beautiful in its pace and view of Holy Land sites), linked here, is prayed by a Canadian Catholic priest and his Holy Land Tour group: https://youtu.be/a3Z3Sfp_0bA
You can say a prayerful Glorious, Joyful, Sorrowful, and Luminous Rosary at this site. An entire Mystery of five decades can be prayed in under 20 minutes. Save it to your phone, say it while driving or performing other tasks with the intention of interceding with Jesus and His Blessed Mother to touch the hearts of mothers and medical personnel so they do not proceed with the abortions.
A child or children’s lives depend on our prayers.
God bless your daily efforts to end this Satanic scourge of the world’s children.
Thank you.
Closeup of the face on the Holy Shroud of Turin. At right is a forensic artist’s recreation of a potential human likeness of the image found on the Shroud.
