ASSUMPTIONS
That there is life after death ….
Try thinking or doing life without that assumption.
That I’ll be around for quite a while….
Try thinking or doing life without that assumption.
That life is about giving and forgiving….
Try thinking or doing life without that assumption.
That my car will start and my tires are good ….
Try thinking or doing life without that assumption.
That Mary, the mother of Jesus, had Eve’s choice ….
Try thinking or doing life without that assumption.
That Christ is the fruit of that womb and is a choice to take and eat ….
Try thinking or doing life without that assumption.
That Christ assumed his mother Mary into heaven… and then you, you, you, you and hopefully me....
Try thinking or doing life without that assumption.
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2015
Painting on top:
The Death of the Virgin,
by Caravaggio
Many people will be familiar with Caravaggio’s painting, ‘The Death of the Virgin’. When it was first painted for a private chapel in a Carmelite church in Rome, the Carmelites rejected the painting as unsuitable. It shows the Virgin not in the dignified death-bed posture associated with traditional representations of the Dormition, but lying dead on her back, with bare feet and swollen ankles. The apostles look on, and Mary Magdalene sits weeping between the viewer and the corpse. Some of the apostles are also weeping; but there is one who holds his hand up in a gesture that seems to show sudden recognition or realisation of something. For he has seen that, in this sorry state – in the death that comes to all of us – there is hope. This hope is not shown by an image of angels and Christ in human form, but only by a light that crosses the canvas and shines upon the belly of the Mother of God – on the body that bore God incarnate. This body, which is the body of a very ordinary woman, was chosen by God for his dwelling, and this body will not be left to the decay which, from the look of it, has already set in. We cannot properly articulate what the hope is that has been revealed to the apostles, but the viewer is invited to share the revelation. For because he became human from this woman, Christ promises all human beings, and all creation, a share in his glory.
Painting on top:
The Death of the Virgin,
by Caravaggio
Notes:
Many people will be familiar with Caravaggio’s painting, ‘The Death of the Virgin’. When it was first painted for a private chapel in a Carmelite church in Rome, the Carmelites rejected the painting as unsuitable. It shows the Virgin not in the dignified death-bed posture associated with traditional representations of the Dormition, but lying dead on her back, with bare feet and swollen ankles. The apostles look on, and Mary Magdalene sits weeping between the viewer and the corpse. Some of the apostles are also weeping; but there is one who holds his hand up in a gesture that seems to show sudden recognition or realisation of something. For he has seen that, in this sorry state – in the death that comes to all of us – there is hope. This hope is not shown by an image of angels and Christ in human form, but only by a light that crosses the canvas and shines upon the belly of the Mother of God – on the body that bore God incarnate. This body, which is the body of a very ordinary woman, was chosen by God for his dwelling, and this body will not be left to the decay which, from the look of it, has already set in. We cannot properly articulate what the hope is that has been revealed to the apostles, but the viewer is invited to share the revelation. For because he became human from this woman, Christ promises all human beings, and all creation, a share in his glory.
1 comment:
I love that post . Thank you so much and God bless !
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