St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

The famous modern artist Pablo Picasso was born into a Catholic family in 1881. But he rejected his Catholic upbringing in his early 20s, mostly because he saw religious morals as an obstacle to the hedonistic fashions of his age.    Picasso never publicly returned to the Church, although a priest was present at the artist's funeral. Throughout his life, he associated himself with various secular movements, one of them being communism, a violently anti-Christian ideology.

Soon after Picasso became a communist, he made an interesting sculpture called "Man with Sheep." It was a conscious re-interpretation of a famous and beloved image in Christian art, one we are all familiar with because it is taken directly from the Gospels - the good shepherd. In traditional sculptures and paintings of the good shepherd, a tranquil lamb curls gently around the shepherd's shoulders.

This is how shepherds used to teach rambunctious and foolish lambs that would run off on their own and leave the flock. The shepherd would break one of the lamb's legs, so that it couldn't run off into danger, and then carry the wounded lamb for weeks, until it healed. By that time, the lamb would have learned that the shepherd is good and trustworthy, and so it would never again stray away from the shepherd into danger.

Picasso's "Man with Sheep" is a complete contrast. In this bronze sculpture, the shepherd is a stark, distorted man with bulging eyes and a fierce expression. He clasps the sheep in one arm, while the animal twists its head away, open-mouthed and protesting, resisting with all its might. Picasso's figure seems like a butcher bringing a lamb to the slaughter. That's what happens when we try to understand suffering without Christ - it just doesn't make sense. But with Christ, all our crosses bring salvation, wisdom, and deeper intimacy with God

Learning to see ourselves, others, and the events of life from this perspective, God's perspective doesn't happen overnight. It's a lifelong project. But if we make an effort, we will quickly start to experience the benefits: gradual growth in wisdom, interior peace, and moral courage - virtues that St. Paul and all the saints experienced so powerfully.

One effective way to make this effort, to learn to see all things from God's perspective, is to take some time to read and reflect on good Catholic books and writings. For our popular culture, the cross is a "stumbling block and foolishness." And we can't completely escape our popular culture.

In the news and advertisements, in movies and video games, on commercials and billboards, on YouTube, Instagam, Twitter and TikTok, we are constantly being bombarded with messages that often contradict Christ's message.     We can't avoid the bombardment completely; it's cultural pollution that's in the air we breathe. But we can counteract and purify it with regular, generous, solid doses of Christian truth.

There is no shortage of excellent Catholic books and publications; each one of us should have our favorites and be feeding our minds with them regularly. During this holy season of Lent, I recommend 2 books by Cardinal Robert Sarah:  God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith & The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise

We are not monks; as they embrace a life of silence, we are not called to isolate ourselves from the noisy world around us. We are called to keep our minds and hearts strong and full of Christ's light and grace, so that we can shine brightly in the darkness around us. Remember also our parish penance this year of 15 Minutes of silence everyday.