Dear Friends,
We hope that you are safe and well.
Today's Meditation celebrates Fritz Eichenberg,master artist, wood engraver. You may be familiar with his portrayal of Christ of the Breadlines. We invite you to google and enlarge some of his prints to capture their inspiration. I am particularly enamored by his Joan of Arc (small image below), Francis preaching to the birds, Christ of the Homeless and The Last Supper. His hatred of war prompted him to get his family out of Nazi Germany and his love for "the divine spark in each of us" exemplified his belief in Dostoevsky's words: "The world will be saved by beauty."
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in the church, in healthcare, in the workplace--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that it is God's economy of abundance: when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
We hope and pray that you find peace, healing, hope and the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron and Jean
MEDITATION 530: Fritz Eichenberg: Woodcarvings
149 best images about Fritz Eichenberg woodcuts on ...
Blessed Among Us
Fritz Eichenberg
Quaker Artist (1901–1990)
Fritz Eichenberg was widely acknowledged as one of the modern masters of wood engraving, famous for his illustrations of literary classics by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. But through his association with Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker he achieved recognition among a different audience—his work conveying in simple images the moral and spiritual perspective that Day otherwise communicated in words and deeds.
Born in Cologne to a secular Jewish family, in 1933 Eichenberg struggled to get his family out of Germany. After their safe arrival in New York, the tragic death of his wife prompted a period of deep introspection, in which he found solace in his conversion to Quakerism. In 1949 he met Dorothy Day, who invited him to contribute to her pacifist newspaper. He first responded with images of the saints, particularly his favorite, St. Francis. His most poignant and powerful images were drawn from the life of Christ—often set in the context of an urban slum. His “Christ of the Breadlines” shows a ragged line of men and women waiting for a handout, while among them Christ awaits his turn. He struggled to communicate through his work a compassionate vision of the world and an affirmation of the sanctity of life, inspired by the words of Dostoevsky, “The world will be saved by beauty.”
He died of Parkinson’s disease on November 30, 1990.
“It is my hope that in a small way I have been able to contribute to peace through compassion and also to the recognition, as George Fox has said . . . ‘That there is that of God in everyone,’ a conception of the sanctity of life which precludes all wars and violence.”
—Fritz Eichenberg